Fox in the Rain
by esama
Summary: Naruto is ready to die but Itachi and Nagato aren't satisfied; he made promises and they make him keep them. Time travel, eventual Naruto x Jiraiya slash, spoilers.
1. Bloody Ocean

**Fox in the Rain**

**Bloody ocean  
**

His mind was rippling. Slowly going up and down like waves on a shore, trying to reach higher but eventually withdrawing again, pulled by greedy gravity that never let its children go. Rings danced over the waves, rings within rings, at the corners, at the middle, in the edges, fractal patterns that never ended, never really began. But rings had no corners. Just like ocean waves weren't made of thoughts.

He closed his eyes and tried to remember. To think, to reach for knowledge he somehow felt he had once possessed. A mind. He had once had a mind. And now it was rushing up and down along the shoreline of his consciousness, trying to reach him, falling a little short each time. There were bubbles rising from the ocean of memories and knowledge, drifting upwards towards the endless red sky, never to be seen again. The ocean was steaming, smoking, bubbling. Boiling to nothingness. Soon… soon his mind would be gone, vaporised to the air.

But he didn't feel panic, sadness, terror or anything at all. His mind was going, going… soon gone, and he didn't really mind. The thought of a thought amused him for a moment before it too seemed to drift away. He almost, just barely, could recall something as a wisp of steam memories brushed along his cheek. Maybe it was the memory of having a cheek. Having a body. A life. A name and a family, of sorts. Memory of a home, of a duty, of a responsibility, maybe.

_This_ was his responsibility. The thought soared over the boiling ocean that was fading to the blood sky. Yes. Yes! This here was his responsibility. His duty. Self appointed mission. Ah yes, he had missions. Of course. Shinobi had missions. He had missions. Duties… responsibilities. This here, watching the ocean of his mind fade away, was his last one.

He breathed in the moist breeze of his mind and remembered love and hate and agony of loneliness. It had been like that so often, hadn't it? But soon it too would be gone. Along with everything else. His cheek and body and the memory of having them. His Shinobi life and missions and duties and responsibilities, his love and his hate and his loneliness. Soon they'd all be gone.

That was good.

Smiling faintly, he walked along the shoreline. The ocean seemed red. Maybe it was the sky colouring it, or maybe the ocean was made of blood. He thought it was the latter rather than the former. There was something odd about it, now that he thought of it. It wasn't supposed to be red. Or ocean. There wasn't supposed to be sky. Hadn't there been a ceiling there once, and walls, and a cage…? Yes, he could remember that, just barely. It hadn't been red. Murky greys and charcoal blacks, fading hues of deepest blue. Only glint of red in midst of the shadows. How had it grown so widely?

_Because he had killed it._

Of course, of course. He nodded in sudden realisation. That was right. The thing inside him that had been there since his birth. It was torn apart, splattered along the insides of his mind. And that was _why_ it had to fade, why it was his duty. The point in all of this. It made perfect sense. That was why his mind needed to fade. That was why he needed to die.

Die? He stopped to contemplate the notion. Right. Die. People died left and right, up and down, all the time. Some he had known, others he had only learned to know afterwards, others he hadn't even heard of before. Some he had seen, others heard of. Some had been close, others mere acquaintances, lot unknown and un-met and rest had been enemies. Some he had tried to save and failed, some he had fought along with and watched die, some he had fought against… some he had killed. Dying, so many did it, had done it, would do it.

His turn now. He nodded, sitting down to the sand only to realise that it was rustic red and disgusting. Clotted and crispy and dried up here and there. Everything was made of blood. He laughed. What a morose mindscape his mind had became. Not a bad time for such a responsibility to take it away. Not a bad time for it all to fade to nothingness.

Naruto breathed in his memories and lay down on the dried up blood of the Kyuubi's victims. He crossed his hands behind his neck and smiling faintly stared up to the violent red sky. It was raining blood.

It was a good time to die.

**x**

There were many types of people in the world. There were those who walked along the streets. Those who tracked up winding paths in the grass. There were those who climbed along rocky mountain trails. Those who walked along rapidly flowing rivers. Then, somewhere, there were those who walked on the rooftops. Those who ran over the grass without disturbing single blade. There were those who walked up the mountain's vertical side. Those who crossed over the water's surface light as a feather. And finally, there were those who didn't have to.

Somewhere there was always that one person who sat at the streets side, at the grass, on some rock at the mountain side, on the river bench. Those who were content there, without going anywhere, without heading anywhere and without doing anything.

Naruto would've been one of those people had it not been for other people. The villagers who walked along the streets, the villains who tracked along the winding paths in the grass, the random passers by lantern lights, the fishermen at the rivers. And the ninja everywhere. The teacher at the rooftop, the girl in the grass, the boy by the fire, and the man atop the waves. He had wanted to become Hokage - so that _people_ would acknowledge him. He had wanted to become strong - so that he could protect his cherished _people_. He had wanted to fight - to bring his precious _people_ back together.

Had there been no one there, Naruto would've sat down at the road side and idly watched people go by. Itachi was certain that he would've sat there only as long as the road would've been empty - then he would've picked the first person he saw to follow and cherish. Nagato was sure he would've sat there until something bad would've happened - he would've only gotten up to stop it.

Naruto didn't really care either way. He had been fine the way he had been and he was fine dying the way he was going to die. He didn't care what he had been in some symbolic, metaphorical level. He had been fine. No regrets. But of course at that point most of the reasons were fading to red, most of the motivations had already vaporised to the blood sky, but he didn't mind. There was a reason. That was good enough for him.

It wasn't good enough for Itachi. It wasn't good enough for Nagato. They had died believing. They had inhaled and exhaled their last breaths in hope. They had given up, knowing he'd carry on their legacy. Save Sasuke. Save the world. Change it. Change everything.

Naruto closed his eyes against the wisps of memories. Because he already was. He _was_. By dying here and letting what remained of the Kyuubi to fade, he would make sure the monster of Madara's design would never be completed. It wouldn't rise. It wouldn't manipulate anyone. Not Sasuke. Not the world. "I can't change anything. All I can do is stop it from getting worse. So _stop it_."

But they had had _hope_. First time in years, in long, long years filled with misery and pain and guilt so overwhelming that they had designed their very own deaths, they had hope. And it had been as painful as it had been beautiful and it had been because of him. Naruto had made them, murderers, assassins, monsters, gods of their own design, feel it. Feel hope. And this was not what they had hoped for. He was disappointing them. It had supposed to be better. Brighter. Beautiful. Magnificent. _Happy_. This wasn't.

Naruto tuned them out and idly tried to remember why he was dying here and now. And like this. Had there been a battle, had he been captured, was Madara somewhere, looming over his body… was Sasuke? Had he himself killed the Kyuubi inside him, blown the fox apart so violently that it had dyed his insides with red? How had he known how to do that? Had it been a plan? Whose? His? Someone else's? The Kyuubi's?

He closed his eyes and let the steam whisk the thoughts away. Better not to wonder. It would serve no purpose. Soon it would be over. He'd be gone. _Everything_ would be gone.

But Itachi and Nagato weren't satisfied.

x

Blood splattered and ocean waved restlessly left and right. Spinning wooden wheels crossed over the red surface as if it was nothing but a puddle in a street's side. The sound of the waves was cut by the sound of the wild splashing and confused Naruto looked up from the fading wisp of his mind. Something was coming closer, over the ocean of his mind. Or maybe the Kyuubi's mind. Or maybe it was chakra. And maybe it didn't matter what it was. Something was coming.

It wasn't supposed to. He frowned, pushing himself up from the drying blood of long dead people and looked ahead. He could almost see, but he couldn't remember what it was. It was familiar, but he couldn't remember what it was made of. That part of his mind was gone. The thing coming closer was shaped somehow, but he couldn't recall the name of the shape. It was moving. Fast. Steady. Almost like being pulled. But nothing was pulling it. He had odd feeling that it was meant to be moved. It was a thing for moving.

"A carriage," voice spoke behind him and he looked up to see fallen enemies looking down on him.

"For?" he asked lying down again, not really interested now that the question of _what it is_ had been answered. Maybe he should've been interested. Maybe he was. But he didn't feel like it. It was oddly blissful sensation.

"For you."

One of them - they were so similar in so many ways, in appearance and in memories, that it was hard to tell them apart - reached to pull him up. Naruto didn't bother fighting against the man - little point in that. "For me?" he instead asked, and tried to figure out what was the meaning behind that. Carriage, he recalled dazedly, was a transport. Transport for him? "Why?" he asked. "Shouldn't I stay here? I'm supposed to fade away."

"No," one of the two said. Enemies. Friends. Brothers. Histories. Sad, sad memories. "Not like this."

Not like this. He made it sound like there was something wrong with this. Naruto didn't think so. But he could hardly _think_ at all, so it could be that the man was right. They were pushing him towards the carriage now, as it stood at the edge of the liquid blood, waiting for him, door open for him. "Where will it take me?" he asked as he was helped to climb the single wooden step up to sit inside. Wooden. He could remember wood. It came from trees. He had liked trees. Once upon a time.

"Back," the enemies, friends, brothers, sad memories, powers, said. They gave him a look, like wanting to say or do something, make him say or do something. It made no sense. He could feel it all inside his head. They _were_ inside his head, they all were. Even the carriage. He could sense it. _Not like this_, they thought. _You promised_. _You were supposed to change it._

_Change what_? He thought back.

_Everything,_ they answered and the carriage door closed between him and them. 'Everything' was a big concept, he tried to call back, but the carriage was already moving, taking him a way, across the blood ocean, across the blood sky, across the bloody mind. Across everything and into nothing.

**x**

Naruto was remembering more. The carriage's odd, soft rattle around him reminded him of something. Of a room and a bed and ceiling which had often rang with hollow echoes of footsteps coming from above. His cheap apartment. The wooden bench and walls of the carriage reminded him of Hidden Leaf, of his favourite ramen stand, of the Uchiha Estate, the few times he had visited the Hyuuga clan grounds. So much wood. Of course, it had been brought down once. By Nagato. He had been there. Lot of people had died. And been revived.

He closed his eyes, feeling tired and lifeless, robbed of his only chance of resting. But perhaps Itachi and Nagato were right in their own way. He still couldn't remember how he was dying or why - or how come the Kyuubi was nothing but ocean and sky and shoreline of blood instead of the vicious fox it had been. He couldn't remember what had happened - only that there had been a reason and his dying like this, that, had been only way to stop… something. Demon extraction? Maybe that was it.

It had been a very… dutiful death. Die before anyone can use you. But it wasn't exactly very rewarding. He hadn't kept his promises. And he had made so many of them too. Become Hokage, stop Sasuke, bring peace, live… he hadn't and he hadn't and he hadn't. How many other promises had he broken? He had promised to go out for some ramen to someone. Broken. He had promised to be there for someone some day. Broken. He had promised to stay strong and proud. Broken. He had promised to help someone. Broken. He had promised. Broken.

Live without regrets. Do things you will never ever regret. Because it was his Nindo? Yes. But he regretted now. Damn Itachi and Nagato. He had been fine dying the way he had. Why had they made him remember again?

"I regret," he whispered. He regretted Haku's and Zabuza's death; there should've been something he could've done. He regretted the Third Hokage's death; maybe if he had been stronger he could've defeat Orochimaru in the forest. He regretted Sasuke's betrayal, if he had been a better friend it would've never needed to happen. He regretted not being able to bring him back for Sakura. He regretted for that whole mission to retrieve him, so many had gotten so badly hurt.

"I regret." He regretted going away for so many years; he might've grown stronger but he grew apart. He regretted not being there to see Hinata grow strong and proud; it would've been sight worthy of seeing. He regretted not being there for Sakura; she had grown so cold and odd in his absence, like another person no matter how she had tried to hide it. He regretted never visiting Hidden Sand during the three years; he would've liked to congratulate Gaara personally. He regretted not learning as much as he should've from Jiraiya; there had been so much to learn but he had only scratched the surface of that tutelage.

"I regret." The fights, the promises, the people missed, the fights fought won and lost, the beliefs met and crushed and changed and the one that had remained always strong.

"I regret dying," he whispered. How many people had he left behind? Was Sakura alive? Was Sasuke? Kakashi? He couldn't remember. Had there been a fight, had they died, was that how he had ended up dying? He couldn't remember. What about Sai, and Yamato, what about the rest, what about Hinata, Shino, Kiba, Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Lee, Neji, Tenten… what about Gaara and the Sand-nin, what about everyone? He couldn't remember. And he regretted that.

Live without regrets. He regretted not being able to do that in the end.

The carriage rattled on.

**x**

Naruto had written two letters while he had been travelling with Jiraiya. One of them had been to Tsunade at the end of the three years of travel. A short, almost cold missive, informing that Jiraiya had been wounded while they had been training and that Naruto's own first aid skills wouldn't keep him alive for long. He hadn't been able to write a long winded letter, hadn't been able to give his excuses or explain the situation fully. He had been too guilty to even try and defend himself. All he had been able to was to state the current situation and not the events leading to it. Tsunade had sent Shizune to them. Shizune had never asked what had happened.

Second letter he had written had been to no one. A message in a bottle - literally, it had been a piece of scroll stuffed to a sake bottle Jiraiya had emptied that evening, dropped to a small stream. It had been a short letter full of hidden meanings and inside jokes no one would understand, of secret confessions hidden as every day chatter, and his very own way of looking at life, contained in lament of a ramen bowl. His wishes and dreams and believes, constricted to words about training and travelling. Nothing significant. The truth of life, existence and everything.

Maybe one day Sasuke would find it. He would read it, think it stupid, and discard it again. And maybe, few days or weeks or years later, he would think about and realise that longed salt shaker was actually him and the broken pair of chopsticks were Naruto and Sakura and the chipped bowl barely able to hold the ramen in it was Kakashi. Maybe he'd realise that the bloody nose gotten during training was the blood Neji had bled during the recovery mission, the tears Sakura had cried before and after wards, and was now the blood beating through Naruto's heart, keeping him going. Maybe he would realise the hidden meanings, the secret messages.

Or maybe it would be the Third Hokage who would find it, somewhere at the shore of the Sanzu river. And he'd understand immediately, realise that the mention of the little leaf rushing about was Konohamaru and that the diamond in a tree was Tsunade and that though he was a pervert and lout, Jiraiya was still a good teacher. Maybe he'd realise the meaning of the bowl and ramen and the broken tools and that he'd know everything. That things were alright, that they were taken cared of, that though nothing was perfect and there were so many arguments and fights left unfinished, they weren't going to give up.

Or maybe someone completely unconnected would find it and read it and never understand it. Amused, they'd shove the message back to the bottle and leave it to float along for the next person to find and bemuse over. And so the odd letter would travel from hand to hand and no one would ever understand it... it or the pain and hope it had been written with.

Naruto looked outside the window to the surface of the blood ocean. A lonely sake bottle was drifting there.

**x**

The carriage jolted sharply, sending Naruto down from the bench and on his knees on the floor. Then it stopped. He blinked with confusion, for a moment wondering what had happened, before deciding to find out instead of wondering. He reached for the door, hesitating, not sure if he wanted to know where Nagato and Itachi had delivered him, before sighing. It wouldn't help to delay the inevitable, he felt. And this, considering the people behind it, had to be inevitable.

The carriage had washed up on shore somewhere. The first thing Naruto noticed that the liquid underneath wasn't blood red or blood and that the shoreline wasn't made of dried, crusted blood. Instead the liquid was clear, water. And the shoreline was made of sand and rocks and few patches of wildly growing reeds. There was a mist and a soft breeze and neither held memories or scent of regret.

When he stepped down, the weight of his own body and sudden weakness coursing through his limbs almost brought him to his knees. He took support of the carriage, trying to stay upright, staring around him. Everything was covered in mist, it was hard to see… was it an ocean? Or a lake? It made no sense. His mind wasn't like this. This didn't feel like his mind at all. Where were the Kyuubi's remains? The blood? The memories? The regrets?

"Itachi?" he called. Nothing. "Nagato?" he tried again. And again nothing.

His legs gave away and he fell to the line between sand and water. The water soaked right through his pants immediately, and his sandals were already wet. It felt so real, as did the bite of a sharp stone under his knee. His finger tips arched where they had harshly rubbed against the wood of the carriage. He had a feeling he had gotten some splinters. It felt so real. Memories had pain, of course, he knew that better than most, but not like this. Purely, sharply physical and not in the least mental. He breathed in, his fingers reaching to touch the sand, just to be sure. No memories, no blood. Just moist fractions of some rocks and stones long since ground fine by time and ocean waves. So real, so odd.

He needed to find out where he was, he thought and forced himself to his feet. He stumbled, almost falling to the sand again. It wasn't until he heard the poof of chakra based illusion dispersing that he realised the fragility of the carriage he had sat in. Turning around, all he could see was the mixture of charkas quickly fading into the air - only thing fading in this so very real place. A technique.

But of course it had been a technique. Carriages didn't appear out of nowhere pulled by nothing and travel by themselves over the water's surface - regardless of whether that water was actually water or bloody memories. The carriage had been a creation by Nagato and Itachi, a technique most likely born out of nothing to work as their means to an end. But what end? Change? Change of what?

The mist was clearing. Maybe that had been a technique too, some sort of illusion or ninja art designed to hide his arrival with the carriage. Most likely. It was fading now, and with a look of expectation Naruto glanced around. The shoreline seemed… familiar. He had been there before, he was sure of it. Frowning, he peered into the fading mist, seeing more water and more shoreline, some trees and reeds and grass - bushes here and there. Normal shore leading into a normal ocean, normal beach giving away into a normal forest.

But hadn't there been a bridge there? Yes, he was sure of it. Right where he was, there had been a bridge. Great, massive bridge. A fight had been fought there. He had fought it, with fire at his side and against ice. But the bridge wasn't there. Neither in its completed form, nor in its unfinished one. Instead there was a ferry slowly floating in the waves, towards what looked like a dock far in the distance.

Naruto fell, gravity relentlessly bending his knees and bringing them down again, to the moist sand. This was the passage to the Land of the Waves, he knew it, he remembered it. But there was no bridge there. There was _no bridge there_.

Naruto stumbled forward, fighting weakness and gravity. He had to get to the dock. There would be people there, they'd be able to answer him and tell him what was going on, where was he, what had happened. Except he already knew they wouldn't have many answered even if they were real in the first place. This could be a dream. Or a memory. Maybe a nightmare or possibly a Genjutsu. Itachi was good at Genjutsu. But he had to know. Had to see and ask and try and understand. Without anything to go by, his mind couldn't make sense of anything.

His toe hit against a shoreline rock, and sting of pain ran through his foot. He ignored it and the splashing of his footsteps against the water. He could've walked upon it, had he had the strength to use chakra. He didn't even bother to try - he could barely stay upright as it was, using what little he had left of his energy for chakra walk would be a waste. So instead he kept going, the water soaking through his sandals even worse, making them make squishy sounds as he walked. He ignored it. He was good at ignoring things

Slowly the dock came closer, step by faltering step. He fell a few times, his pant knees soaking with water and staining with moist sand. He kept going, taking support from the few trees growing close enough. The ferry was reaching the doc faster. He wondered if he'd make it there before it would. Probably not. He was slow, and the ferry was going faster.

After what felt like eternity, he made it, just in time to see the ferry settle beside the dock. It was a simple thing, the dock, a plain block of concrete with a sort of pavilion on top of it, a booth for some sort of register there, empty at the time. The ferry itself wasn't exactly complicated either and it looked like it had gone through some rough times.

"Hurry up, hurry up," someone said in hushed tones and a plank was set between the dock and the ferry. People rushed out, carrying boxes and bags and rucksacks, looking like they were running away or something. Naruto blinked, confused, and weakly climbed onto the concrete. The people first to get off board ran straight off the dock and into the forest without looking back.

"Excuse -" he stared, drawing attention to himself. Metal against metal sounded in the hazy, tense quiet and he found himself surrounded by blades on all sides as the people from the ferry more or less apprehended him. Had he had the energy, he would've been surprised, even alarmed, but all he could do was blink and sigh. Right. Of course.

"Who are you?" the man who had been telling people to hurry demanded to know. He was holding a rusty spear with long, albeit chipped blade. The poor state made it no less threatening as it pressed against Naruto's throat. "Are you a Shinobi? From Leaf or from Mist? Answer me!"

Naruto blinked and then glanced around him. Things were a bit blurry. Shinobi? Yes he was. From Leaf, yes. But he had been in Hidden Mist too, once. He had Jiraiya and visited it once, some time after the fourth Mizukage had been assassinated and the fifth one had taken control. Jiraiya had wanted to see the new Mizukage… it seemed like ages ago. Maybe it had been.

"Answer me!" the man demanded again and the blade brushed against Naruto's skin. Tingle of pain, more of due to harsh rub rather than because of a cut. The blade was dull and rough.

"Where is this?" Naruto asked instead, because he had already forgotten what he had supposed to be answering. He had more pressing matters to concentrate onto. Like the fact that he wasn't dying like planned and this wasn't the bloody realm of his mind. He needed to know what Nagato and Itachi had done. "Where am I?"

The questions seemed to take out some fire from the man's fury, making him blink with confusion and then look at him more closely. As the man's eyes widened, Naruto looked down to himself. It was only then he realised he his clothes were covered in red from everywhere except from the knees where the water had washed some of it away. Absently he touched his chest, and then looked at his hand. It hadn't stained. It was already dried up. When had he been wounded? Before or after the mindscape? Or maybe it wasn't blood at all, but the colour of memories, lingering to his clothes? Neither concept made much sense.

"What is your name?" the man asked, this time with less anger.

Naruto didn't answer, staring at his hand instead. His nails were red too. Right, he had touched the bloody beach. It had gotten under his fingernails. Studiously he brought a finger to his mouth to taste the blood. It tasted like lecture from Iruka-sensei and like the wood of the chopsticks at Ichiraku.

"He must be a half-wit," someone murmured.

"How did he end up in this sort of state?" a woman's voice asked.

"Maybe he was attacked…"

Naruto tasted another finger, licking the blood underneath the fingernail. The people around him talked, wondering if he had been attacked, or if he had fought someone, if he had killed someone or some thing. Someone even wondered if he had been tortured, or if he had been put under Genjutsu, if his mind had been altered. Naruto closed his eyes. The blood tasted like Kakashi's sigh, like Sasuke calling him useless, like Sakura's punch. She had always been a tempest. "Tempest," Naruto murmured and smiled. It fit Sakura.

"What?" someone asked with surprise.

"Tempest," Naruto repeated eying his fingers with wonder. Would all of them have memories in them? He tried a third one and smiled. Shikamaru muttering about how tiring it all was, Ino punching the air with vigour, the bag of potato chips rustling as Chouji got another handful. Good memories.

"We can't leave him. What if someone finds him - he can tell we were here and where we went," someone murmured nervously. "Everything will be ruined if he can point Shinobi to our direction."

"Right, you two, grab him. We need to get a move on."

Someone took hold of Naruto's upper arms he didn't notice. The next bit of blood tasted like Gaara and the tailed demons and the pain of loneliness. Not so good memories.

xx

This is a story I started writing as sort of christmas present for myself, so it has the things I like to read and write; time travel, little bit of madness, epic story line, male x male romance and lot of drama. It won't probably suit the tastes of some, though. Also, I'm writing this in drabble format, which each drabble being about thousand words long, so the writing style might seem a bit scattered. I removed the drabble titles since they don't mean anything and might annoy the readers. The next chapter shall make a little bit more sense than this one.

Warnings for ooc characters, au world, flawed understanding of Naruto world's geography, screwed up timelines and other artistic changes I might and will make. Oh, and the eventual will-not-happen-at-least-in-following-dozen-chapters Naruto x Jiraiya slash.

My apologies for possible grammar errors and such, my excuse is being Finnish and beta-intolerant. if you notice any that bother you, tell me and I will fix them.


	2. Wandering Carnival

**Wandering Carnival**

They walked, ran, scurried along the forest like there was some sort of nameless terror behind them, haste making each step fast and sloppy. Naruto was dragged along, guided, carried, manhandled. He didn't mind too much. Letting someone else decide where to go and what to do gave him the chance to sort out his thoughts, what little was left of them anyway.

This was reality. It felt and smelled and seemed like reality and for a Genjutsu it was too weird. Why would someone make a Genjutsu of civilians running in a forest? And if Itachi had been behind it, it would've made _less_ sense than that and been a whole lot more painful. Besides, Genjutsu usually had a point. This situation didn't seem to have any, except running away from something towards something.

No, this was reality. Nagato and Itachi had done something to deliver him here. Why still didn't make much sense to him, but he figured it might do so later on so it was safe to concentrate onto other things. Like, where he was? Who were the people around him? Where had they come from and where were they going? And where were _everyone_? Kakashi and Sakura and everyone else? Hadn't they been there? He couldn't remember, but it made sense that they would've been there, with what little there was left of Akatsuki. Where was the battle he had lost or the situation where he had given up - where was Madara and his demon extraction? Nothing less would drive him to mental suicide he had been committing before his past enemies had come to make him change things.

But they weren't there. And he was somewhere weird and still familiar. The shoreline had looked so much like the coast between Fire Country and Land of the Waves. And these forests looked quite like the forests of Fire. All so familiar. But if he was _home_ then where were the people of _home_? Had they left him behind? Or had whatever Itachi and Nagato done made him leave them behind?

They stopped running only when it got dark. The band of civilians stopped by a river side, hiding in the woods and bushes and hurriedly fetching water to wash up and make food. They took Naruto's clothes to be washed - scent of blood attracted beasts of animal and human kind after all, and they didn't want either after them.

"Here, Arashi," a woman said, handing a piece of cloth to him. A plain dark robe. "You can wear it while they wash your clothes."

Naruto stared at the robe uncomprehendingly for a moment before looking up to her. She was middle aged and tired but had fire in her pale grey eyes fit for a Shinobi. He vaguely remembered she had been dragging him along most of the time. A strong woman. He should thank her for looking after him. "Arashi?" he asked instead, pulling the robe over his naked form.

"You said that's your name," she answered, sitting down beside him with a sigh and pulling her travel boots off. Her feet were blistered. "I'm Shindoi," she said while pulling a bottle of water closer and using it to wash her feet.

"I'm not Arashi," Naruto answered confusedly.

"Well whatever you are, best keep it to yourself. Shindoi isn't my name either. No one here there uses the name that actually belongs to them. Safety reasons, you know," the woman grinned mirthlessly. "How are your feet?"

He looked down to see that even his sandals had been undressed while he had been wondering about things. Curiously he pulled one of his feet to his lap and inspected it. It looked alright. "They're fine," he answered, crossing his feet in his lap and pulling the robe tighter over him. "Why are we running?"

The woman didn't answer at first, concentrating onto cleaning her own feet. She only looked up as another woman came to deliver them bowls of soup, handing one of them to Naruto. "We're running to find a better place to be," she finally answered. "There's a civil war going on where we came from. We wanted to leave, rather than to stay and die."

Naruto eyed her silently for along while before turning his attention to the bowl. Civil war? None of those in Wave, the country was too small. Water Country then? He frowned. He had thought the Fifth Mizukage was peaceful. At least when compared to the Fourth Mizukage. And where had they found the time to start a civil war with the whole mess with Madara and Akatsuki going on? "So you ran to the Land of Fire?" he asked confusedly. It wasn't any safer there than anywhere elsewhere as far as he knew. If anything, it was less safe there.

"Better chance of surviving here than there," Shindoi answered with a shrug. "It's not like there's not war here, of course, but everyone say that the war's gonna end eventually. And they're in a ceasefire and have been for months, so it might be that it's gonna be over soon."

Naruto looked up to her, blinking with confusion. "What war?" he asked confusedly. The war against Madara?

"The Second Great Shinobi War, of course."

The young ninja stared at her, uncomprehending. Second Great Shinobi War? What about the Third Great Shinobi War, what about the smaller wars and the invasions and the revolts - what about Madara and Akatsuki? Sure the latter wasn't exactly common knowledge among civilians but even they should' know, what with the Kage Summit and all… "Are you sure?" he asked and carefully he tried the soup. It was tasteless.

"Better here than there," she answered steadily and concentrated on her soup as well. "Bleh," she murmured but ate it all with fervour. Naruto did the same and once he had finished she took their bowls away, leaving him alone to contemplate what she had said. Something was wrong. But he couldn't figure out what. Something was… just wrong.

"Here," Shindoi said after returning. She was holding his clothes, which were soaked through and through but no longer dyed by red. "Hang them on a bush or something and they might even dry before morning."

Around them the illegal immigrants were settling down to rest, whispering quietly among themselves and seeking comfort from each other. Naruto looked at his clothes and frowned. Orange pants and jumper, and pair of well worn sandals. Nothing else. No gear, no weapons - not even his headband.

"Arashi, huh?" he murmured, holding to the wet jacket. After hanging it to a bush near by, he kept staring at it, like it could offer him some answers. It didn't.

**x**

Some rest and warm food returned most of his usual strength to Naruto, but none of his reasoning abilities as things still kept making no sense. Not knowing what else to do, he followed the refugees, falling in step with their slow pace even though by now he could've launched ahead and left them all to his dust. He could've gone to Hidden Leaf, he knew, but… something told him not to go. Instinct, maybe, or maybe it was Itachi or Nagato. Or maybe it was fact that the forest around him seemed just slightly off somehow. He wasn't sure, but he knew that going to Hidden Leaf would've been somehow a bad idea.

So he followed the civilians from Water Country. They had a direction they were going, some place they were heading and Naruto hoped that place could offer him some more answers than the refugees had. They weren't bad company after they had figured that he wasn't a half wit or insane or going to report them to some authority. They still didn't trust him and all names they gave to him echoed fake. Just like his own.

"You know, you need to pick family names too or people are going to be suspicious," he said while walking instep with Shindoi. The forest around them was thick and uncomfortable, the undergrowth tangling at their feet. However the leader of their group, a man named Gentaru, was determined to keep them off the roads for now. Apparently he was sure that they'd be caught if they'd use the actual streets.

"Hm. I suppose so. Something like… Anjuu Shindoi?" the woman said pushing aside a branch that had almost hit her face.

"That's not a real name," Naruto answered a bit amusedly.

"Like Arashi is any better. Anjuu Shindoi sounds official," the woman shrugged her shoulders before, throwing her head back so that her hair was whisked behind her shoulder. "And just weird enough to pass as real name too, here in Fire Country. What about you?"

Naruto thought about it. He had been Uzumaki all his life, but as this was game of fake names he couldn't use it. His father's name was Namikaze but he couldn't use that either for too many reasons. "Kazama," he said after moment of thought. It was common enough and was kind of similar. "Kazama Arashi. Sounds neat."

"Not really," Shindoi answered, shaking her head with amusement. "It sounds like you're going to be blown away by a stray wind."

"Maybe I will be," Naruto answered.

Maybe they all would be. According to everyone he had talked to, they all believed that the Second Great Shinobi War was still going on, albeit on a temporary ceasefire. And war had apparently been doing on for a while now, between Lands of Fire, Wind and Earth. It wasn't the only war going on either. There was some sort of revolution going on in the Country of Lightning and of course the civil war in Country of Water and who knew what was going on the smaller boarder countries, and who knew what else. And Country of Fire was apparently enjoying its fourth month of continuous peace. _Enjoying,_ like four months of peace was a huge deal.

It all seemed like illusion. Weird illusion, but when Naruto thought it seemed plausible. With Nagato's wishes, dreams and memories and Itachi's abilities, they could've created it. As far as Naruto could remember, this was the time of Nagato's life when he had been… set on his path. It was sometime before the end of the Second Great Shinobi War that Nagato's friend had died and he and his other friend had taken over Hidden Rain…

If Nagato wanted to change something, it was probably his friend's death. Itachi probably wanted to change everything, Akatsuki, Madara, Uchiha massacre… if not for anyone else's sake, then for Sasuke's. So, if they wanted him to change something, this was where it would begin. Except… except. Their delusions and illusions could change nothing. Not really. The Genjutsu would wear out eventually. And Naruto would resume his death in the bloody mindscape.

"So, what are you going to do when we get… there?" Naruto made a vague motion ahead of them the direction where Gentaru was leading them.

"Find work. Place to live. The usual," Shindoi shrugged her shoulders while hoisting her backpack a little higher to her shoulder. "Not that many jobs around for anyone back where we came from. Hard to earn a living. Hard to live, actually. Should be better here - that's why we're here after all."

"I suppose," Naruto mumbled. He supposed that was why he was there as well.

x

On the fourth day of forest trekking, Gentaru brought them to a small, makeshift village of tents and caravans. It was set up in a small clearing in the woods, far from towns or villages or commonly used roads, far from sight. One single glance told Naruto that the entire camp was made of refugees like the ones he travelled with. Except something was different about these refugees. For one, they didn't seem to be all from Water country.

"Nomads, refugees, runaways and survivors of destroyed nations," Shindoi explained, looking around. "See, over there? They're from the Country of Whirlpools which was consumed by another country just two years back. And those over there, see them? They're from Country of Rain, who knows how long they've been on the run, probably since the start of the war. And those guys there, those are from the Country of White Trees, it was taken over by Lightning country in the first years of the war…"

She kept going on and on and almost startled Naruto stared at the people. War refugees, the whole lot of them, from over dozen countries, most which didn't exist anymore and rest which were always on the brink of war from one reason or another. There were even few tents of Wind country's design in the camp, and some from Lightning and even one of familiar, homely Fire Country tent.

"What do they do?" he asked in wonder. So many people from so many tragic situations, thrown together.

"Travel, looking for a place to fit in, place to live in peacefully," she shrugged. "It's not easy, though, for a refugee. Not many places want to take people like these, and us, in. Some here probably have been travelling their whole lives and some will probably die travelling."

Naruto frowned and glanced at her. "Does… does the country know you're here?" he asked.

"They know about these ones - not about us, though, probably," Shindoi answered. "Fire country is good for people like us. In Lightning and Earth Countries, they'd never let a group like this in - not to mention about the fact that those countries are hard to survive in. Wind too. Here in Fire, though, groups like these aren't minded as long as they don't bother people. Look over there," she then said, pointing.

Naruto looked. There was a group of particularly colourful tents there, and suddenly a realisation dawned. He remembered hearing about it when he had been a child - and he had seen it twice with Jiraiya when they had been travelling. The wandering Carnival. Group of people, civilians mostly, from all around the world, travelling from town to town and holding a great big shows in which they displayed all sorts of interesting talents and tricks. He had never given much of a thought where they had come from. Not before now.

"They fund this group mostly," Shindoi shrugged. "Or so I figure anyway. They're pretty popular around here. Have been since the First Great War."

"Yeah, I've seen them perform. I didn't know…" Naruto trailed away, thinking back. There had been… lot of people in the Carnival. Some dozen booths, the circus of course, a freak show - even a fortune teller. He also remembered the special bright red tent where Jiraiya had spend most of the festival night, and the women hovering around the circus tent, luring men with them. He remembered the little kids running about in colourful clothes, asking for pennies… so many people from so many nations. He should've known. "Is it hard living like this?" he asked softly.

"Well, who knows. Compared to life of a tailor or a shop keeper, I imagine it's a bit harder. Compared to a life of Shinobi or a Samurai, well…" Shindoi shrugged. "Not all here are part of the Carnival of course. Some, like us, have just joined this group. Some will probably soon leave it to look for something better. Some might even find it."

She fell quiet and they looked up as Gentaru joined their group. "They will let us join them," the man said. "Also, if anyone here knows any Shinobi arts, you should see if the Carnival can put them to use. They lost one of their leading acts last winter and apparently it's been hard to make means after that."

Naruto hesitated, glancing at the others. They looked at each other, but apparently no one in their group knew anything. Was this what the illusion wanted him to do? Shaking his head, he looked up. It would give him something to do, he supposed. Until the illusion would fade. "I know some," he said.

"Then go and tell them," Gentaru said, nodding towards the Carnival tents. He turned to the others and started explaining about sleeping arrangements and what sort of jobs they would have around the camp and stuff like that, while Shindoi turned to Naruto.

"You know Shinobi arts, Arashi?" she asked worriedly. "You think being with the Carnival is the right thing to do?"

Naruto smiled and shrugged. "It'll give me something to do."

**x**

They travelled some more, this time as enormous group of nearly hundred people instead of measly dozen of before. Naruto was no longer part of the refugees from Water Country, however, but he had been made part of the Carnival group. Mostly due to wanting to downplay his abilities and not to attract too much attention, he had only shown his most common Ninjutsu technique to the circus performers. Kage Bunshin had easily been enough to make him part of the crew.

"Usually you see only those who trained to become Genin but failed the tests in camps like these," a dark skinned man who had an aerobatic act, Yonige, had said while he had been accommodated in the circus group's tents. "We teach each other, but most we can do is some chakra control, Henge and Bunshin. Your Kage Bunshin will be really useful, Arashi, if nothing else, it will be huge help to have some extra hands helping setting up the tents and everything."

Naruto had rubbed the back of his head awkwardly while glancing at the other performers. There were lot of them from different countries and different skill set. It was a little awkward to stand among them, a full fledged ninja, officially Genin and unofficially something whole lot stronger. "I'll be happy to help," he said.

"Do you think you could teach the Kage Bunshin to us?" someone had asked.

"No, I don't think so," Naruto had shaken his head. He could've, but firstly Kage Bunshin was a forbidden technique only known in Leaf and secondly… it was so chakra draining that he doubted anyone here could perform it even if they knew how. And of course there was the fact that everything might be illusion and thus the people around him were incapable of learning anything at all.

He was starting to doubt it being an illusion, though. It had been going over a week. Even Itachi shouldn't have been able to hold one as complicated as this up for so long.

"So, where are we going?" Naruto asked while walking along side one of the Carnival carriages which hold most of their supplies and performance gears. Yonige was holding the reigns of the oxen pulling the carriage.

"There's a town not far from here. We're going to hold a performance there," he answered. "You won't be part of the performance crew, of course, as you don't have an act and we're not yet sure how to put your Kage Bunshin to use, but you can help us set up. We might put you to take care of the Creature, though. She needs someone to watch over her and your Kage Bunshin could be useful in calming her down if she goes berserk."

"The what?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

Yonige nodded backwards, to the carriage following them. Blinking, Naruto jogged towards it and then fell to walk beside it. It wasn't as much a carriage as it was a cage on wheels. "Careful there," the driver called to him amusedly. "She's known for biting."

"What _she_?" Naruto murmured, leaning forward for closer look. There was something in the cage. Frowning, Naruto jumped to the cage's side to take a better look. He almost jumped back. "Zetsu!" he hissed. The fly-trap appendages were unmistakable. But… something was different. For one, there was no Akatsuki cloak, only ragged robe which looked like it had been made of a sheet. And… He leaned forward, frowning. No, it wasn't Zetsu. It was girl. Also, unlike Zetsu, she wasn't split into two haves and was greenish white thorough.

"We picked her from the boarder of the Grass country. She was probably kicked out," the driver said. "She's been nothing but a pain in the rear end since, let me tell you. She's attacked half a dozen people - nearly killed two. But as people pay good money to see her, we keep her around."

Naruto grimaced. "Does she have a name?"

"Nothing but Creature. She's not all right up there, you know, so we haven't really been able to name her with anything better. She responds to Creature so I suppose it's fine as it is," the driver said.

The girl's pale green eyes snapped open and turned to Naruto. With a snarl she was on her feet and reaching for him through the bars, making him jump pack with surprise. She kept snarling, sounding rather like an animal driven to a corner. While the driver busted to merry laughter, Naruto's guts clenched with mixture of confusion and overwhelming pity for the girl. Was she really so wild, so unintelligent, that she acted like an animal, or was she so afraid and terrified by her captivity that there was nothing else she could do?

Frowning, Naruto kept walking along the cage's side the entire day, trying to find any hint of intelligence in the girl's eyes. There was none.

**x**

The nomads planned their routes three weeks ahead. This was done so that the runners of the group could go ahead and spread knowledge about the Carnival coming and pin posters for people to see. It wouldn't do to appear unannounced to a town just like that, after all. In few cases they had been even asked not to show up after all, and had been able to adjust their plans accordingly without much trouble.

The town they arrived was a small place, mostly flourishing due to the fact that it was in crossing of three major routes and thus had very lively market place. They were welcomed to the town by curious children, gossiping women and men bracing forward asking if they'd need any help setting up. All offers and questions were politely shrugged off before the caravan of refugees made their way to a large clearing where they'd be able to set up the circus tent easily enough.

No one asked their identification or origins, no one even paid much attention to the fact that there was whole lot more people in the caravan than the mere Carnival group. There was some measure of genius there, Naruto soon realised. People were so interested and curious about the Carnival itself to mind about the extra baggage it had.

"Alright. We will set up camp first, feed the animals, have some dinner, and after that we'll get to work on setting up the circus gear," Yonige said to Naruto, who was now more or less his disciple in all things Carnival related. "You go fetch our tent and I'll go and see where we can set up."

Naruto did as ordered and together they erected their tent while all around them everyone did the same. Soon the temporal village of tents was up, and while most of their camp started setting up fires for cooking and stuff like that, majority of the Carnival group concentrated around large empty area. The Director, Shuji, was pointing around the area.

"The main tent will be right here," he said, using a stick to draw enormous circle to the ground. "And then the red tent will go over here… better keep the fortune teller's tent away from it this time. We'll set it up over there. And that's where we will set up the Freak Show…"

"The Freak Show?" Naruto asked softly.

"The tent with the Creature and some props," Yonige answered. "Sometimes it's even more popular than the main circus. People like seeing weird stuff, you know. And we have lot of it gathered."

"Arashi!" Shuji called.

It took Naruto a moment to realise he was being called. He still hadn't gotten completely used to his new name "Yes, sir?" he said, almost snapping to attention. Few people around him chuckled.

"I want you with me once we start setting up," the Director said, casually hoisting the stick he had been using to his shoulder. "I'm going to teach the ropes to you, that way we can have most use out of your clones."

"Yes, sir," Naruto nodded.

"Good. Alright people, go and get some grub. Once we've eaten, we will get to work."

The work, even after eating and taking a short break, wasn't easy. It took lot of effort to set up the huge circus tent, even with so many people and handful of Naruto's clones helping. They also had to put together the seats for the guests and viewers, which took some carpentry. The other tents were easier to set up, with the exception of the Freak Show tent as it didn't only require setting up the tent itself, but also the props.

"Very… unique. Ish," Naruto awkwardly said to the Freak Show manager while setting up a mutated skeleton for display. It was a human's skeleton, except it had two heads and four hands. It wasn't the only weird thing they were setting up - and all of them were weirder than each other. "Where have you gotten all this stuff?"

"Here and there," the man, Henshu, answered while carefully setting a beautiful crystal to a stand. There was something inside it. Stillborn mermaid embryo maybe. "While travelling you encounter all sort of stuff. Some of these are naturally fakes, and some…" he looked up as Creature's cage was brought in, "and some are painfully real."

Naruto gave a look at Creature who was hissing in her container and sighed. After days of travelling, he had never gotten through to the girl. If she had a mind and understanding, she was very good at hiding them. "You need anything else, old man?" he asked instead, turning his back to the girl.

"I think I can get everything set by myself. You go ahead."

He helped around some more, but by the time he was finished with the fortune teller's tent, they had already set up the red tent and everything else. They had even set the handful of stands for the merchants of the caravan. They were still setting up some decorations and paper lamps and torches for the Carnival, though, but as far as he could see they were handing it well by themselves. While looking for something to do, Naruto was called by his Carnival-teacher

"We need to get a better outfit for you," Yonige said as they headed back to the tents to eat.

"Is there something wrong with my clothes?" Naruto asked, a little offended. He looked down to his jacket. Sure they were little worn, but… they were very comfortable. And orange which was a plus. "I like them. You know how hard it is to find decent clothes in this colour?"

"No… and I don't want to find out. But your clothes are worn and not fit for this sort of work. I'll have someone here get you better outfit before tomorrow," the elder male answered. "Don't worry, I'm sure they can be made orange if you really like that colour so much."

The rest of the night was spent drinking and celebrating the upcoming show. Naruto had to wonder why they were celebrating upcoming show rather than show which had already happened, but he didn't say anything. They were having fun, the atmosphere was nice, and few of the circus musicians were even playing. Questioning the order of celebrations would've been rather redundant. And when Shindoi suddenly dragged Naruto to the open for a dance, he got the feeling that these people celebrated anything and everything when ever they had the chance.

"It's not a bad sort of life, is it?" Yonige asked when he asked about it few dances and lot of laughing later.

"I suppose not," Naruto murmured, watching the dancers. They had set torches around their dancing area and the flames lit the colourful clothes they were wearing alight. It was loud and warm and happy and felt rather like peace. "No. It's not bad at all."

**x**

The Carnival started with opening of the stands, the fortune teller's tent and the freak show. There was a clown walking around the makeshift street of tents, and somewhere someone sold balloons to little kids who then raced up and down the makeshift street, proud of their new belongings. Naruto, wearing flaming orange happi-coat which apparently was more fitting for Carnival personnel than his usual jacket, watched the goings of the customers and the nomads with feel of odd, detached enjoyment.

"It still hasn't quite settled in, has it, Arashi?" Shindoi asked while sitting down beside him. She too was wearing traditional clothes, though in a festival yukata she looked more like a customer than part of the nomads. "This life and being here, I mean. You feel like you should be one of them," she motioned vaguely at the customers. "And not one of us."

Naruto made a disjointed noise, but couldn't deny it. He didn't feel part of the carnival as one of the staff. He was in charge, for the moment, of watching the fires and lamps and making sure that nothing would catch fire - with his Kage Bunshin he'd be the quickest and best controlled if they'd need to start organising water lines. He also had self appointed mission of keeping the order and making sure no one would start anything - there were few strong guys among the Carnival staff, but they weren't _Shinobi_. But even that didn't make him belong. It felt more like he was a solo ninja on a mission, and the Carnival was his employer.

"It might take time," Shindoi murmured. "I don't quite belong either. It's not my first time with groups like… this one, but I've never really belonged to those either. I think it's because we know we're not meant to stay."

Naruto hesitated before nodding and closing his eyes. He knew now, this was no illusion. It felt like it, it really did at times. Things were just… so strange. But it was all real - too odd to be illusion from a master, too real to be a dream. He was here. In the past. Sent by enemies made strange allies, dead now, by their own machinations. Who knew for what purpose. But here he was.

"Ever feel like you have some thing you need to be doing, but you have no idea what it is?" Naruto asked after moment of thought and opened his eyes. For a moment it felt like he saw a headband glinting among the happy festival-goers. Probably a mirage. "Like you forgot some important task you should already be getting to?"

"Sometimes," Shindoi chuckled, giving him a look. "You feel like that?"

The ninja frowned. "That day when you found me in the shore…" he trailed away. "I was sent there by… somebody. To do something. But they didn't tell me what I was meant to do - or if they did, I forgot. I wasn't…"

"You weren't all there, yes," the woman chuckled. "But you've gotten more stable since. Maybe your memories will return eventually."

"I don't think they will," he sighed. Itachi and Nagato. If they were there still, somewhere inside him as hidden triggers or abilities or whatever they had given to him in meetings before their death, he couldn't feel them anymore. Well he hadn't been able to feel them in the beginning either, but this was different. The Kyuubi was gone too. He felt empty, like someone had taken his insides and left him with nothing but his skin, walking around like normal person but hollow. Bits of his memory were missing too. It was still all so strange.

"Well, how does it feel like then? Do you need to go somewhere, or is it some task you need to complete, or some person you need to… well, do something about. Or what?"

Naruto glanced at her, surprised to hear her insinuate assassination just like that, after she had ran from war. She grinned faintly and shrugged, before making a motion for him to say something. "I don't know," he said. "Little bit of all of the above. I need to… go some place, I think. And meet someone there. Change them. Or maybe I need to change some event, but…" he frowned. But where had it started? Where had it started…?

"Well, you could try asking around," Shindoi offered. "Someone here might be able to give you some pointers." She stood up. "I, for one, am not going mope here. I'm going to go and have some fun. You're welcome to join me, kid."

"Nah, I think I'll mope little longer, thanks Shindoi," Naruto grinned and then watched as she vanished into the crowd. Then his eyes slid over the crowd, looking for some hint of what he ought to do, what way he ought to go. Nagato, Itachi… why hadn't they given him more pointers? Go back, change it? Change what? Where? _How?_

There was a kid walking in the crowd, he noticed. A girl with black hair. She was wearing a Hidden Leaf's headband.

xx

I wasn't gonna update this so soon, but I had a good writing day today and I was kind of worried that the first chapter gave a wrong impression of the story. So I kind of want to make it clear that Naruto is not going to be out of it thoroiugh the whole story. Well, not too badly anyway. Also, yes, this story is time travel. It's hard to say exactly how far back in time Naruto went because Naruto timeline itself is far from being clear and then I went and tampered with it a whole lot. So he travelled about 25-35 years back in time.

I thank you all for your support, you have no idea how happy I'm that so many people like this story. Not just for the story itself, but for the pairing. There really should be more Narujira/Jiranaru around.

My apologies for possible grammar errors and such, my excuse is being Finnish and beta-intolerant. If you notice any that bother you, tell me and I will fix them.


	3. Masked Shadow

**Masked Shadow**

"Damn, ninja again," Shuji murmured when Naruto saw him at the edge of the Carnival. "Four of them this time, must be a team. You wouldn't believe how much trouble those guys can cause. You wouldn't believe."

Naruto raised his eyebrows and didn't answer to that. He didn't believe. He _knew_. The second time he himself had visited Carnival with Jiraiya, the man had been kicked out of the Red tent, Naruto had been kicked out of the gambling tent, and someone had picked a fight with them. They had crashed the fortune teller's tent among other things. He had thought that such antics were somewhat unique to him and those around him, though. Apparently not.

"You think you could do anything about them?" the Director asked hopefully.

"Why me?" Naruto asked.

"Arashi," the man sighed, shaking his head. "You walk like one, you talk like one, you throw Ninjutsu around like one. Anyone here who doesn't know you're a Shinobi is half blind or half dead. Now, I don't care how you ended up with the refugees. You look for a place to stay and just as long as you don't cause any trouble this might as well be the place. But if you can do something for the Carnival, I want you to do it. We're stretched thin as it is, we won't have enough funds to cover the damages if someone of these ninja decides to start throwing fireballs around."

Naruto nodded. It made sense and he wasn't surprised these people, runaway civilians, could tell the difference between a Shinobi and a civilian. They had all ran from wars after all, and wars usually happened between Shinobi. When civilians decided to fight, it was usually Shinobi who either ended up on the battle fiends or stopping the fight altogether.

"I've seen two so far, both kids, so I think it might be a Genin team. Three Genin, one Jounin teacher. If it's that, then I'll have no trouble dealing with the Genin. But the Jounin-sensei might give me some trouble depending on how good they are."

"I don't want you to kill them," Shuji snorted. "Bad advertising that. Just make sure that if they start up something, they will go continue it somewhere else. Alright?"

Naruto glanced at him, feeling a bit bothered about the fact that the man believed he _could_ kill someone and as easily as that. "Of course, Shuji-san" he said instead of arguing and watched the Director walk away looking satisfied. Naruto himself turned his eyes to the crowd, before walking towards the Freak Show's tent. Beside it there was a booth selling Carnival masks. "I'll borrow this, alright, Hitokawa-san? Oh, and this too, if it's alright," he added, grabbing a red wig which had been probably made from dyed animal hide.

"So long as you return them," the man selling the masks answered. With a nod, Naruto continued walking and made his way to the shade behind the Freak Show tent. There he pulled the awkward wig and the mask on - only momentarily registering the irony of it being a fox mask. Shaking his head, he brought his hands together in a seal and created three Kage Bunshin. "Find the kids and shadow them," he said. "I'll tag the teacher. Go."

The three masked clones nodded and walked back into the crowd one by one not to attract attention. Naruto waited for a while before following them and pushing his way in to the crowd. Hopefully the teacher wouldn't be like Kakashi. Naruto knew from experience that his own teacher was impossible to shadow.

The Carnival mass seemed to have lot of fun. Many of them were wearing yukatas, laughing amongst themselves while enjoying the treats sold in one booth or examining exotic looking cheap jewellery of another booth. One kid had bought himself a pin wheel and was waving it around and not far from him a man was fitting a paper flower to his woman's hair. Naruto glanced at them and for a moment had a feel of disorientation, and the man's hair looked red and the woman's hair looked blue. Except they weren't. Shaking his head he looked ahead.

And there he was, the Jounin-sensei. The sight of him nearly made Naruto stumble but he managed to stop it barely. He had white hair tied from the back and sideburns that reached all the way to his collarbones. When he turned to follow one woman with his eyes, Naruto was almost disappointed to see that he didn't have the _Oil_ headband, but regular Hidden Leaf one - because Jiraiya wore special head band and Naruto had never seen him wear anything else…

But this was the past, years and years before his time. Jiraiya's face was younger, but the essentials were there. The annoying wart on the side of his nose, which had always caused the man some embarrassment. The red lines tracing down from his eyes, all the way down to his chin. The look of amused boredom, almost always there.

Naruto swallowed around his heart which had risen to his throat. It wasn't only Nagato's precious people… who were still alive at these times.

**x**

"You following me for some particular reason?" It didn't take long for Jiraiya to notice that Naruto was tailing him. But in all honestly, the younger Shinobi wasn't trying particularly hard to hide himself, knowing it to be useless. "I'll have you know that I'm a great, magnificent ninja and you won't be able to pickpocket me."

Naruto smiled behind the mask. "I wouldn't dream of it," he answered, folding his arms and pushing his hands into the sleeves of his happi coat. He felt wonderfully out of place now. It felt like old times, when he had walked probably this very same carnival with his teacher. It didn't feel at all like he was part of the staff and that Jiraiya didn't even know him. "I'm just here to make sure you don't start anything. We've had troubles with ninja before."

"Aah, I see. I hope you don't have any delusions about being able to bring me down, however. I am the great legendary Toad Sage, Jiraiya!" the man laughed and the tone told Naruto he had already had a few cups of sake to drink. "Nothing you can do about me."

"Probably not. But if you set something on fire, I'll be close enough to put it out," Naruto answered calmly, or as calmly as he could with his throat hurting and his eyes stinging. If he had any allusions about the world around him being an illusion, they were gone now. Even if Itachi could've been cruel enough to make him experience this, Nagato wouldn't have. He after all knew the pain of losing someone, he knew better than to flaunt the pains of others at their face. At least too badly. "Are you enjoying the Carnival, Jiraiya-san?" he asked instead.

"Yes, though of course I've seen it before and it hasn't changed much," the man answered, stretching his hands. "You're not gonna follow me everywhere, are you? I was going to visit the red tent and I don't think they let kids in."

"The red tent won't open until after the circus, which will not commence in a while," Naruto answered calmly.

"Blast," Jiraiya murmured. "You know, I have students here. Two Genin and one Chuunin. They're more likely to set this place on fire than I am. You should go watch them instead. I promise to behave in the mean while."

"They're already being watched," Naruto chuckled. One of Jiraiya's students was already a Chuunin? The ones he had seen had looked pretty young to him. Had they already had a go at the Chuunin exam? "If you don't want conversation, I can fall back. It'll be like I'm not here at all."

"I don't think I like being shadowed in silence anymore than I like being shadowed out in the open. Oh, fine, stick around if you want to," the man murmured, scratching his head. "Where can I get something to eat, by the way? I'm getting hungry."

"There's a booth selling takoyaki and okonomiyaki over there, and you can get some yakisoba on that booth over there," Naruto answered, pointing. "Or if you want sweets, they're sold over there."

"I think I'll have some takoyaki," the Sage answered, heading towards the booth. Naruto followed after him. Soon they were at the booth where the man ordered himself something to eat and then found seat in the simple tables spread around the booth. "So, you have a name, kid?"

Naruto hesitated before saying, "Arashi," and feeling somewhat guilty for lying to his own teacher. But Uzumaki Naruto wouldn't be born in many, many years and he couldn't claim the name of himself when there was a danger he himself would then never get it. Besides, there was Jiraiya's book and its main character to consider.

"Well then, Arashi-san, have a seat," the man said, patting the bench beside him. "Tell me about what sort of trouble Shinobi cause in fairs like this one."

Naruto glanced at the seat before sitting down. "I haven't been with the Carnival for long, so I only know about one time," he said, thinking about it for a moment before giving a short tale about drunken Ninjutsu master and his gambling student and how the Ninjutsu master had caused a scene at the red tent while the student had been thrown out of the gambling tent for cheating. Of course, Naruto hadn't cheated. He just had unnaturally good luck at times. "And then some other ninja showed up, this Ninjutsu master's enemy, you know, and they almost brought the entire Carnival down while trying to fight whilst half drunk and stumbling."

Jiraiya threw his head back and laughed. Naruto's smile was hidden beneath the red fox mask as he bowed his head slightly. It was a bittersweet memory, one only he had known with his teacher dead in his… time. It was nice for it to be stored someone else's memory as well. Especially Jiraiya's own.

The Toad Sage ate his takoyaki almost lazily before heading back to the crowd, Naruto tailing closely after him. If the Sage was still bothered by his presence, he didn't show it and instead went about the Carnival normally, buying some sweets here, examining the masks, glancing the gambling booth before buying a cheap necklace from the jewellery booth, saying he'd give it to the next pretty lady he'd meet. Naruto followed and listened with vague sense of agonized nostalgia and tried hide it the best he could - but it was so easy to fall back into the old spot beside or behind the man, the only teacher who had really spend any effort in teaching him how to survive.

With mix of sadness and trepidation, Naruto wondered what _his_ Jiraiya would think of him. He had surpassed the man with some things, still lagged behind in others. He too was a Sage - though considering that he hadn't signed the summoning contract in this time or been taught by Fukasaku, maybe the title wasn't completely warranted. But he had still attained Sage mode, even better than Jiraiya had. He still was long way from becoming a sealing master, of course, but… he had fought and won against Nagato, _Pain_, who had killed his teacher in his time. What would Jiraiya think of that? Of him making Nagato change his mind before the end and sacrifice himself to resurrect the dead of Hidden Leaf? Probably berate him from being too late to save Hidden Leaf from near complete annihilation and Tsunade from completely wearing herself out.

"Oi! Jojoni-chan!" Jiraiya suddenly called, starting Naruto out of his thoughts. He looked up to see whom he was yelling at. It was the girl Naruto had seen before, with black hair styled on chonmage top knot and Leaf's headband on her forehead. She looked… grumpy, but Jiraiya didn't seem to notice. "You enjoying the Carnival, lass? Visited the jewellery booth yet? There's some pretty things sold there, you might want to check it out…"

"I don't see why we're here, sensei," the girl said, glancing at Naruto and then turning slightly look behind her. "And why are we being tailed?" Naruto looked up to see his own clone not far from her, his hands casually behind the back of his head, fox mask securely in place. The clone waved at Naruto and amusedly Naruto waved back.

"They're the Carnival security personnel. Apparently they've had bad experiences with Shinobi," Jiraiya answered, looking between Naruto and his clone. "Your… brother, Arashi-san?" he asked curiously.

"Something like that," Naruto grinned behind the mask and looked at the girl. She was probably freshly graduated as she didn't look much older than twelve. "I hope he didn't bother you."

"It's annoying being followed," she murmured, looking between Naruto and the clone and folding her arms. "Can we go yet?" she asked, looking up at Jiraiya. "There are better things we could be doing except wasting our time here. Like training. This is supposed to be a training mission and yet you haven't given us any proper training in a _week_."

Naruto almost snorted. She thought week was bad? Jiraiya could deny him training for months at a time. Or, he did, when they were travelling. Which hadn't even happened yet.

"Aww, Jojoni-chan. You need to learn to cut loose and enjoy the moment. Not all things in life are about Ninjutsu and training," Jiraiya sighed. "Have fun, eat greasy food, sing, and dance… you know, normal stuff. Don't you want to see the circus at least? For people like us this can be once in a lifetime experience, you know."

The girl snorted. "Waste of time," she answered before turning to leave. "I'm gonna go and see if I can find Minato," she murmured. "Maybe he will be willing to train with me."

Naruto and Jiraiya looked after her while Naruto's clone gave another happy wave and jogged after her. Minato, Naruto wondered. Namikaze Minato? His father was there? As a _child_? He couldn't wait until the day was over and he'd get his clone's memories. Seeing his father as a kid… not everyone got the chance. "Cute student you got," he said after a moment in wry tone.

Jiraiya sighed, scratching the back of his head. "Successfully teach one group of kids and you suddenly think you're up to becoming a Jounin-sensei. You know, not a day has gone by I haven't regretted agreeing to teach these kids. Not a day." He was quiet for a moment. "Though I suppose I've felt as little proud of the brats too. Sometimes."

**x**

Jiraiya's second student's name was Chougou, and it was easy to tell which Hidden Leaf clan he was from. They found the young Akamichi at the yakisoba stall, at his second bowl. Naruto's clone on other hand was sitting not far from him, playing a game with couple of children that belonged to the stall keeper. He had three cups in front of him and he had apparently hidden a piece of candy into one of them and was now moving the cups around. "Alright," the clone said, stopping and reaching up to adjust his mask and wig. "Which one is it?"

"That one!" the kids all pointed at different cups. The youngest one got the candy and with a laugh the clone brought out a new one to hide in the cups.

"I see you at least are enjoying the Carnival," Jiraiya said while sitting down beside his student, glancing between Naruto and the clone before turning to his student. "You ever been to an event like this before, Chougou?"

"I've gone to the Leaf cooking festival with my family a few times, but that's about it," the boy said while tilting his bowl to get to the last bits of the food. He threw his head back to swallow them and with an air of deep satisfaction lowered the bowl. "Yum," he said with a faint grin. "So, when's the circus going to start?"

"In about an hour," Naruto answered, folding his arms and hiding his hands in the sleeves. "They will start calling for people once it's time to find your seats, so you probably won't miss it."

"Cool. Who're they?" the short haired boy asked, nodding at Naruto and the clones. "Minato had one tailing him too."

"They're babysitting us so that we don't cause trouble," Jiraiya grinned. "Where did you see Minato?"

"At the gambling booth," the boy grinned, nodding towards the booth where people were betting their money in various games.

"Tsunade-hime's taught bad habits to that boy," Jiraiya sighed. "Maybe I should have a talk with him."

"I dunno. He came out with half a fortune. Spend it on candy, naturally, but…" the Akamichi boy shrugged his shoulders before waving at the keeper of the yakisoba booth. "Can I have another bowl? Same stuff, thanks!"

"I'll have to have a talk with him about sugar intake then," Jiraiya murmured with a laugh and then frowned. "Oh, hell, he's going to be sugar high the whole evening now."

Trying to connect the words sugar high and the fourth Hokage did funny things to Naruto's mind and he was still at the point where the rapid speed of Yellow Flash suddenly made some sense, when the yakisoba manager brought another bowl for Jiraiya's student. "That you, Arashi?" the man, Keishoku, asked while looking up and down Naruto's clothes. "You want something to eat? I can whip some ramen for you."

"Maybe later," Naruto answered though the very notion of declining ramen was tearing bloody gashes across his very soul. But he didn't dare to take of the mask in presence of the Shinobi, not with his features being legendarily similar to those of Namikaze Minato. "I ate some before the start, so I'm fine. I might come grab a bite to eat before the circus starts, though."

"Alright then, I'll save some for you," Keishoku answered before heading to serve another customer.

"Do you have an act in the circus, Arashi-san?" Jiraiya asked curiously.

"No, I'm just going to be watching," Naruto shrugged.

"I see. Well," Jiraiya said while sitting up. "I guess it's time to find that last brat of mine and see he doesn't knock himself into a coma with the amount of sugar he is no doubt eating."

**x**

One day, Namikaze Minato would be recognised as a genius. He'd be known as the single fastest man on earth and one day he'd became nightmare of the Hidden Rock due to a war they would lose to him, to a single man. He'd become a Hokage hallowed and respected by all, despite his young age…. and then he'd die as a hero, saving his village from certain destruction, giving his life to seal away a terrible beast. One day.

But not that day. Naruto tilted his head to the side as he watched his young father, not yet even a teenager, happily smiling around a lollipop. There was something… very wrong with the image, and Naruto didn't know if he was supposed to laugh or once more try to dispel Nagato's and Itachi's illusions. Then he noticed his clone who was sitting not far from young Minato. He too looked rather puzzled by the situation.

"You know we have early morning tomorrow, right? No one of us carrying you if you knock yourself out in sugar withdrawal," Jiraiya said amusedly to the blonde boy while Naruto discreetly approached his clone.

"Then I'll just catch up to you," the blonde boy answered happily and offered a box of sweets to his teacher. "Pocky, sensei?"

"I think some part of me has died," Naruto's clone murmured with mixed amusement and disbelief as Naruto nudged his shoulder. "All the things they spoke… I didn't think sugar addiction would be part of it."

"Well… when you think about…" Naruto grimaced behind his mask. "I guess something like this was expected." There was him with ramen, there was Jiraiya and Kakashi with porn, there was Tsunade with sake, there was Sakura with fashion… most ninja seemed to have their habits which weren't that commonly mentioned. It somehow made sense that his father had one too. Sugar, though… it seemed rather weird for the hallowed Fourth Hokage. But then, even Hokages had been kids once. "Damn it, now I know why the toads were always asking for sweets."

The clone snorted.

"So you had one after you too, Jiraiya-sensei?" the blonde boy asked while his teacher helped himself to some pocky. He was nodding towards Naruto and his clone. "How many are there?"

"Four as far as I've seen," Jiraiya snorted and snapped a piece of the pocky off. "You part of a quadruplet or something, Arashi-san?" he asked, directing the question at Naruto.

"Clones," Minato answered in Naruto's stead and with a crunch bit through his lollipop.

"What makes you say that?" Jiraiya asked curiously.

"All three I've seen are perfectly alike down to the patterns on the wig and the string hanging from left sleeve," the boy shrugged while throwing the lollipop stick to a near by garbage pail with astonishing accuracy. He took a pocky and bit to it happily. "If you want people not see you are a clone, try and not be so identical," he said to Naruto.

"If I was hiding the fact, I would've put the clones under a Henge," the other blonde answered, leaning to his clone's shoulder casually. The clone grumbled at him, but withstood it easily. "There was no point, as you would've figured it out sooner or later anyway. Besides, I'm not exactly trying to hide the fact that I'm tailing you."

"No, not really," Jiraiya snorted and sat down beside Minato with a huff. "I've seen some civilians who know some low level Shinobi abilities, but making solid clones is something different. You've been trained, Arashi-san?"

"Once upon a time," Naruto shrugged.

**x**

The clowns who had been handing out balloon animals and such to kids started hollering people to advance to the circus tent not much after Naruto had managed to get used to the fact this his father in early teenage years had had a sweet tooth bigger than the Hidden Leaf. He looked up to the tent while Jiraiya and Minato stood up to join the crowd idly making their way towards the tent. Shuji hadn't given him any orders about what to do once the show started, so he figured he could go and watch it.

"I suppose you two wouldn't mind if I sat with you?" he asked while motioning his clone to head off to patrol the carnival area. No use having two of them watching people who were at the same place after all, and it would be better to have eyes and ears outside the tent as well.

"Just as long as you don't spoil the show for us," Jiraiya said. "Though you don't really think we need watching over while we're enjoying the circus? You're making me feel like a criminal."

Naruto snorted, stuffing his hands into his pocket while walking in step with his teacher- and father-to-be. "Well, you never know. You might get all excited and start shooting out fireballs or something. Shinobi are excitable folk as far as I know."

"Not all of us," Minato answered. "Though I wouldn't put it past Jiraiya-sensei to set a tent on fire just to make things interesting."

"I wouldn't!" Jiraiya harrumphed and slapped the back of the boy's head. "And don't give the fox guy a bad impression of me! He might clone me to death."

Who'd want to clone you, Naruto thought with a snort. But he did. Jiraiya was laughing, a hearty sound, nothing like that mockery of laugh Naruto knew, loud and empty and full of too many regrets to put into words. The Jiraiya he had known had been as full as he had been empty, a mixture of a man he had wanted to be and man he had became in order to hide the one he really had been. All of the Three Great Ninja had carried emptiness inside them; all of them had tried to fill it. Only now Naruto realised how well and how badly his teacher had managed.

He shook the thought away. The waves of the blood ocean were ringing in his ears, and he didn't want to return to the mindless madness of before. Instead he glanced at his father, younger than him, and then up to the tent ahead of them. The area around them was noisy, full of people laughing and tittering with excitement, trying to get inside the tent faster as if afraid they'd miss the show unless they'd hurry. Inside the tent, haphazard music could be heard as the orchestra, made of runaways and refugees and people barely trained at what they were doing, tried their skills.

Jiraiya flashed his and Minato's tickets at the entrance and Naruto waved at the big, burly man who was checking them. As he followed his teacher and his father-to-be along the stands and up the stairs to seats near the back where there was less people, he fought melancholy and odd twisted excitement. He had been looking forward to see the other perform. But to see it with Jiraiya and Namikaze Minato, that was different.

"When is the show starting?" Minato asked, peering forward curiously. He had a pocky stick in his fingers and was idly whirling between them. The way the stick danced from thumb to pinkie and then over the knuckles without faltering made Naruto wonder what it would look like, if there was a kunai there instead of a mere pretzel.

"At seven," he answered, taking seat directly behind Jiraiya and Minato and idly lifting his left foot upon his right knee. "But I think they will wait until everyone who's gonna watch have found seats at the tent."

"Can't start a show without viewers," Jiraiya chuckled. The people in the tent were rumbling with murmurs and across them the orchestra almost caught a tune before dissolving into merry cacophony. In the absence of anything else to do but wait, Jiraiya turned to his student and begun happily explain what had happened the last time he had seen a circus. Behind them Naruto closed his eyes behind the mask and smiled.

He knew noise. Noise of war, entire village found in ruin, demons breaking their chains and worlds ending - believes and morals crashing. Noise of emotion and thought - of tragedy, agony and loneliness. Noise of the betrayed and the promised, the defeated and the victorious, the slain and the saved, the ruined and the renewed.

The sound of cluttered happiness around him and his teacher's hearty, not-yet-hollow laugh… wasn't noise at all.

"Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the Carnival Circus!" Shuji called through a speaker once everyone had settled down and the tent was packed. "Here you will skills from all the corners of the known world! An acrobat from the magnificent Land of Lightning, a snake charmer from the Land of Grass, a powerhouse of physical strength from Land of Earth, a beast tamer from this very Land of Fire..."

Naruto smothered a chuckle. It was clear that Shuji had either given the speech many times, or had given so many like it that it came from him naturally. After seeing the man in somewhat modest travelling - or how modest it can be when you're travelling with a Carnival - it was strange to see the man in full festival gear. It suited the man, though. Aside from the cape which was a little Akatsuki-like, the clothes were very fitting for a circus and Carnival director.

"Now!" the man finished his lengthy introduction. "Let the show begin!"

And begin it did. Naruto wasn't too impressed, he hadn't been the first time around either, but he had to admit that for civilians the circus performers weren't bad. So, Rock Lee was hell of a lot stronger than the so called powerhouse of physical strength and Yonige's limberness fell short that Naruto had seen some Hyuuga perform. The snake charmer didn't hold a candle to Orochimaru - not that it was something to be ashamed about - and the beast tamer compared to some summoners was pathetic at best. But he couldn't judge _civilians_ by Shinobi standards.

"Aww, where's the leading act?" Jiraiya murmured after Yonige was done performing. "She was much better at this stuff than that guy is."

"Hm?" Naruto tilted his head to the side curiously.

"There used to this awesome babe in the circus last time I saw it. She did these tricks with ropes up in the air," Jiraiya motioned up to the gear Yonige had been using in his act. "She was really good for a civilian and a treat to watch. Please tell me you're saving the best for last."

Naruto smiled crookedly behind his mask. How like Jiraiya. "I wasn't with the carnival back then, so I have no idea who you're talking about," he said. "But I heard that one of the circus's leading acts died during the winter last year. That might've been her."

"She _died_?" Jiraiya asked in despair. "Bummer."

"You haven't been with the Carnival for long, Arashi-san?" Minato asked curiously as the Director called a fifteen minute break before the next act. "How long have you been with it?"

Naruto hesitated before shrugging. "Some time," he answered. _Few days_ would've sounded lame. And maybe a little suspicious considering that he had shadowed Shinobi and performed Ninjutsu no civilian was supposed to know. "Not as much as a year but longer than a day."

"Cryptic," Jiraiya muttered with a snort, glancing at him. "You take this whole Carnival mysticism pretty seriously, huh?"

"Yes, I'm eagerly waiting for the fortune-teller to kick the bucket so that I can claim the glory of being a leading Carnival mystic," Naruto snorted, shaking his head. "What about you? Been Shinobi for long?"

"More than a year, less than thirty," Jiraiya grinned at him.

"More than a month, less than a decade," Minato nodded.

Naruto laughed.

xx

Here's the first major change I've made to Naruto time line. It's not ever actually said when Jiraiya had his genin team, though, so maybe it's not that huge change I've made. It probably was after the Second War, but this works better for me. Also, Jojoni and Chougou aren't canon characters, the names of Minato's team mates haven't been revealed yet. I just based them on the picture of Jiraiya and Minato with their team shown in the anime/manga.

To answer the questions... I chose the name Kazama Arashi for Naruto because I just thought it would be amusing - and it's regocnizeable enough in the Naruto fandom to not be jarringly foreign. Obviously, since Minato is alive, it doesn't mean that Naruto is going to become the Fourth Hokage or his own father. And currently Naruto is almost eighteen years of age, Jiraiya is in his twenties and Minato, Jojoni and Chougou are all about ten to eleven years old. :3 I hope that helps.

My apologies for possible grammar errors and such. My excuse is being Finnish and beta-intolerant. If you notice any that bother you, tell me and I will fix them.


	4. Mixed Confessions

**Mixed confessions  
**

It was strange, Naruto mused while Minato leaned forward to watch the show and Jiraiya let his attention stray towards a pretty woman sitting not too far from them. He would've assumed that in this sort of situation, when a child from future meets his dead father and teacher, the child would be more interested about the father. Especially when the father was someone like Namikaze Minato, whose accomplishments seemed endless and who had entire nations singing his praises in the future. Even unconnected person with any idea of who Minato was would've been interested about him, to learn his secrets and personality and how the sugar addict displayed currently would turn into the magnificent hero in the future…

But Naruto found that his interest about his father was almost detached. Maybe it was because he himself had only met the man once, and even that brief meeting had happened inside himself and Minato had been nothing but a signature in human shape, memory of a man who had once been. He simply didn't know the man. And yet lack of knowledge usually did not hinder honest interest which Naruto now lacked.

More probably it was the mixture of indifferent respect and indignity. Yes, Minato would be an incredible Shinobi, a Hokage and his father one day. But he would also seal the Kyuubi inside him. Naruto understood why - he really did, maybe even better than Minato himself had done when he had sacrificed his own life. But understanding did not wipe away twelve years of bitter, painful childhood of being hated by everyone around him, of being painfully, helplessly lonely.

With knowledge, respect, a grudge and bitterness fighting each other, the result was something like mildly curious neutrality. So, despite how it should've been, seeing Minato was rather disappointingly unemotional event. There had been surprise, maybe twinge of honest interest for a moment, but it had faded to the background in favour of more important, more appealing presence.

But then, Jiraiya had been more to him than Minato had, the hermit had meant more. Jiraiya had been a teacher in many things and though many had called Naruto "The Fourth Hokage's Legacy", in reality Naruto was "The Toad Sage's Successor". Jiraiya had taught him Ninjutsu and Summoning, Naruto had even learned some of Jiraiya's personal combat style, and after Jiraiya's death, Naruto had became master of the arts of Toad Sages. Naruto had gotten more from Jiraiya than he had ever gotten from Minato - existence and demonic tenants aside and Rasengan couldn't be counted because the Toad Hermit had been the one to teach it. Jiraiya had even given Naruto his _name_. And all of that meant very little in comparison to the most important thing Jiraiya had taught him in those three years they had been travelling.

Naruto leaned back and looked up to the ceiling of the tent where the acrobats were finishing their final act.

He had known to live before. Survival had been the first thing he had learned in life. And not just survival in sense of taking care of himself and eating properly, but being able to _survive_ through the life he wasn't enjoying in the slightest. Before Iruka and even before the old man Hokage himself, there had been no one in his life. He could only vaguely remember some caretakers from his earliest of age, but in all honesty he couldn't remember the time before his sixth year of life that clearly. The first memory he had, which was clear, was from when he was just little over six and already living alone in his own apartment, trying to figure out how to use the stove.

It had been miserable existence. He had managed, sure. He had gotten allowance and though the shopkeepers had given him some piercing looks, they had rarely if ever overcharged him - bad marketing that, setting different prices for different people, even demons. He had even learned to cook, though the many failures in the beginning had made him appreciate the beauty of instant food. Ramen especially - so many flavours, impossible to get tired _and_ it was cheap. But getting by day by day only really worked out for you, if you wanted to. Any time in his life, Naruto could've stopped eating. Many times he had considered it. He never had. He had the Hokage hat to thank for that. It was a pretty damn cool hat. Goals really could save one's life, even if they were nearly unreachable.

Later on, things had changed, and he had gotten his precious people. Iruka had taught him to smile and laugh, really laugh. Sakura had taught him to look forward to, how not to be alone. Sasuke had taught him be persistent - in more ways than one. Kakashi had taught him to be patient - and that patience was often rewarded. But it had been Jiraiya who had taught him the most important thing.

How to enjoy his life.

**x**

In odd way Naruto was disappointed that the circus ended without an incident. He had half expected the support poles to collapse so that he'd need to create half thousand clones to support the tent and keep it from crashing down, or have his clones rush to fetch some water to put some fire out, or… or something to that effect. In his life, he had just gotten adjusted to things going wrong in that certain way that either ended up with things destroyed or with lot and lot of effort put in keeping them from getting destroyed.

Being summoned in middle of the ruins of your home after long and hard training mission had an odd effect on a person's mind.

"Well, it was interesting," Minato was saying as Naruto shadowed him and his teacher out of the tent. "For civilians they were pretty good."

"Any proper ninja could do all they did and make it ten times better, but you're right," Jiraiya hummed while reaching and stealing a stick of pocky from the boy's hands. "For civilians they weren't bad. Still, pity about the babe I saw last time. She was really good. You would've loved her, Minato."

"If you liked her, sensei, then I doubt it," Minato murmured, rolling his eyes before looking ahead. "Oh, I can see the others over there. Oi! Jojoni, Chougou!" he waved at the two, who looked up. Chougou happily waved back. Jojoni folded her hands and frowned. Minato laughed. "I don't think she liked the show much, sensei," he said in stage whisper.

"Big surprise that," Jiraiya muttered, shaking his head while motioning the two others to join them. Not far behind them came Naruto's clones, still adorning their masks and wigs though Naruto could tell that the one who had been following Jojoni was yawning behind his mask. "Well, then, brats," Jiraiya said his two students came close enough to hear. "I think this is about it for the night. You three head off to the inn, why don'cha? We'll have a practice session tomorrow morning, so I want you all well rested."

"Oh, really?" Jojoni asked, looking highly unimpressed. "You liar, sensei. That's what you said the last time. And why aren't you coming back with us?"

"I have some… research to do… information gathering, you know… a secret mission…" Jiraiya said vaguely and gave his three suddenly very suspicious students a wide eyed look of complete honesty. "It's for the good of the village! I promise!"

Naruto chuckled at the all-too-familiar excuse while waving his clones towards him. They walked forward, one stretching and other with his hands in his pockets. "Anything I should be aware off?" Naruto asked curiously. There were times when his clones witnessed something which gave him a pause after the clone dispelled and he gained its memories - it could be disconcerting and was down right lethal in battle situation. It helped to know before hand so that he could prepare for the memory-shock.

"You might get a bit tired," the clone that was in middle of a stretch answered while the other shook its masked head. "I'm wiped out."

Naruto nodded and the clones dispelled in soft poofs of chakra. He immediately knew that Jojoni had walked pass the jewellery stand twice before buying a bracelet and that Chougou had offered the clone following him some salty snacks which the clone had declined. The two students' of Jiraiya had sat together in the circus tent and Jojoni had spent most of the show making disgusted noises, critiquing the performers and complaining about the waste of time it was. Naruto was so good at tuning out complaints that listening to her had made the clone close enough to hear sleepy.

Jiraiya glanced at him as the chakra smoke faded but said nothing. He gave few more words to the kids who with some annoyed grumbling then turned to leave, Minato piping a polite, "It was nice to meet you, Arashi-san!" before heading off. Jiraiya and Naruto looked after them in silence before Jiraiya turned to look at the masked blonde, who suddenly found himself beyond awkward.

"Some training once upon a time, huh?" the Sage finally asked. "What sort of clones were those?"

Naruto smiled grimly. "Why do you ask when you already know?" he answered.

Whilst training with the man, Jiraiya had showed him several different types of clones whilst they had been planning a Taijutsu style that made the most of Naruto's cloning ability. There had been lot of them and they all had their distinctive characteristics - the most memorable were perhaps the lightning clones which electrocuted anyone with the misfortune of touching them. Even now, decades before that time, there was no way the Sage wouldn't be able to tell the difference between clones just by glancing at them. And Kage Bunshin was the only clone aside from normal Bunshin which dispelled with a poof of chakra.

Jiraiya didn't answer, just turned to head to the takoyaki stall, motioning Naruto to follow him. More curious than worried, the younger Shinobi followed, sitting down with his teacher-to-be and then watching how the man ordered himself some sake. While waiting for it to be delivered, Jiraiya took out his pipe.

Naruto leaned forward curiously. Jiraiya didn't smoke that often, but when he did it was usually sign of severity - or agitation. Though once or twice Jiraiya had put him through the silent making-you-wait-in-awkward-silence-while-I-have-a-smoke treatment just for the drama.

Finally, Jiraiya got his sake and lit his tobacco. He blew the smoke at Naruto's mask while pouring himself a drink, still saying nothing. He pushed the stopper back to the sake bottle and lifted his cup. "That Bunshin is a Hidden Leaf secret," he then said, staring at the masked younger Shinobi over the saucer of sake.

Naruto tilted his head to the side. Hidden Leaf secret, was it? In his time, the only jutsu unique to a village was a jutsu very recently developed - or jutsu which couldn't be performed by anyone other by the creator, like Hiraishin and Rasenshuriken. In his time, not even bloodline limits were safe, and seeing a thing like Byakugan in the hands of another village - something which during these times would no doubt lead to an outright war - wasn't even _remarkable_. The lines of ownership had blurred when people had found that _everything_ could be stolen. Even tailed demons.

But this was a different time with different believes and different dangers. Bloodline limits were pure and secure and jutsu were a matter of pride. Seeing a jutsu created in one village being used by the Shinobi of another village was a disgrace - and probably would usually lead into investigation about how it had been leaked outside village's walls. And… Kage Bunshin no Jutsu had been developed by Hidden Leaf's very own founder, Senju Hashirama. Naruto hadn't known that until over year of using the art and even then it hadn't seemed important - after all, plenty of people knew Kage Bunshin. In his time.

He had a feeling that probably less than five people knew it in this time.

"A secret, huh," he answered after bit of silence. "Does that make me a secret keeper, or the leak? Should I order a saucer for myself or run for my life?" Jiraiya in his time would've probably rolled his eyes at the concept, had he been alive. But this was a different Jiraiya.

"How did you learn it?" the Sage asked instead of giving any indication about what he was thinking.

"I studied," Naruto answered. "Some paper and ink was involved. Maybe a little bit of physical training. Can't quite remember, it was a while ago."

"Once upon a time, you got a little bit more than some education," Jiraiya answered, narrowing his eyes. "It's not just a secret, Arashi-san. It's an S-class one. Only way you would know it if myself, my team mate, or the Hokage would've taught you… or you got it by some devious means. And I know the Hokage would never teach it to just anyone and my team mate isn't exactly the teaching type."

Naruto blinked idly. Orochimaru hadn't defected yet, huh? Interesting. "So, I am a deviant now. Alright," he said, leaning his chin to his knuckles, careful to not disturb the mask. "Where does this leave us, Jiraiya-san? What do you intend to do about me and this S-class jutsu I know?"

Jiraiya frowned, taking him in silently while sucking a breath through his pipe. "Tell me honestly, Arashi-san. Are you a Shinobi?"

Naruto hesitated, wondering if the answer would redeem or condemn him. "Once upon a time," he said finally, and looked up as he caught the sight of mass of colour at the corner of his eyes. It was Shindoi in her festive yukata. She had apparently taken over for one of the clowns who had sold balloons before, as she was walking with cloud of them following her. "Do you know what this Carnival is about?" he asked. "The people, I mean."

Jiraiya looked away as well, glancing around the makeshift festival street. He nodded, giving him a curious look.

"I'm like them," Naruto answered. "Once upon a time there was a place where I studied and was a Shinobi. That place is not quite the same right now…" he trailed away. Technically it was the complete truth. "You know, it's funny. If you leave your village, you become a missing-nin. But what happens when there is no village to leave? What becomes of people like me, who have no one to report to?"

Jiraiya was quiet for a moment, eying him silently. "They either become civilians, Arashi-san, or find new superiors in other villages," he finally answered, waving at the stall manager who brought them another saucer. Naruto glanced at the corner of his eye as Jiraiya poured some sake to the saucer. He handed it over the table. "Or they join the freak show."

Naruto chuckled and accepted the saucer, wondering how to drink without taking off the mask. When Jiraiya looked at him expectantly, he shrugged and lifted the mask just enough to drink. Jiraiya would know the shape of his chin and see the two lower whiskers, but nothing else. It was good enough.

"So you do wear that thing to hide your identity from me," Jiraiya murmured amusedly.

Naruto didn't answer neither wanting to deny or confirm the obvious and either seem the more cocky or cowardly for it. "You know," he said instead, looking at the sake cup. "I'm not actually old enough to drink this stuff."

Jiraiya's answer was oddly firm. "If you're old enough to have lost a village, you're old enough to have a cup to its memory."

The conversation ended without another word. Naruto drank his sake and didn't refill as drinking only one saucer had brought him too close to revealing his face to Jiraiya - and he knew for a fact that he was a very bad drinker. One of the few weaknesses the Kyuubi's chakra had never relieved him from, getting drunk that was.

Jiraiya seemed to consider the fact that Naruto turned his cup upside down as sign and after he had emptied his own saucer, he took the sake bottle and headed off. No goodbyes, no greetings, no threats or promises. He just wandered off without another word. While staring after him, Naruto felt both oddly betrayed - because in Jiraiya's threats and suspicions there had been a hint of a promise. Lone Shinobi like Naruto, in possession of Hidden Leaf's secret jutsu… Jiraiya _should've_ taken him back to Hidden Leaf as a prisoner.

He sighed, pocking the upside-down sake saucer with his finger. That was Jiraiya, thought. And in some way it felt oddly homely to be just left behind by his teacher. Jiraiya had done it so many times during the three years of travelling that Naruto had missed it as much as he had been relieved that it wouldn't happen again.

Naruto laughed to himself when he saw the direction his teacher was heading. Shaking his head he stretched his hands before looking around and past the takoyaki stall's front. The carnival wasn't over yet - most of the booths and stalls were open and though mothers were steering their kids away, there was still plenty of customers. Mostly those who were eagerly waiting to get into the red tent, and those who were eagerly waiting for the chance to get drunk. Usual party-goers.

"Are you done dreaming?" familiar voice said from behind him, and tilting his head back, Naruto looked at the Carnival director upside-down. "Go after him. I'm not having a ninja in the red tent without someone watching him - that's where we get the most trouble and I know for experience our normal guards can't do much about most ninja."

"You sure I oughta go there, Shuji-san?" Naruto asked. "I am kinda under age. Well. Kinda." Actually he was almost eighteen, but it was still kinda underage. With Gamabunta always muttering about him not being proper subordinate because they hadn't shared sake yet, he had started considering twenty-one as the proper adult age - that's when you got to legally drink the strong stuff after all.

The man lifted a single eyebrow at him. "Did you just come up with argument against going in? What the hell sort of teenager are you? You're what, seventeen? At the prime of your hormones!" the man snorted. "You're a strange one, Arashi."

"No, I've just been going in and out worse places than that ever since I was eight," Naruto shrugged, nodding at the tent. Jiraiya wasn't the only one who had done his homework - and it had taken whole lot of _research_ to perfect Oiroke no Jutsu. Just getting the nipples right had taken close to two weeks and about ten observation sessions. "So I've pretty much seen the best and worse of it and I don't actually have interest in that sort of stuff anymore." Not that his interest had ever been anything but strictly academic.

"So you either swing your sword the other way, or you just do hand-to-hand?" the man asked with mildly amused smirk.

Naruto snorted and stood up. It was a pity Jiraiya hadn't heard that - he would've loved to use that in one of his books. Once he would actually start to write the perverted stuff. "Usually I manage with Ninjutsu," he answered and left the director muse over it.

Nothing really interested happened in the three hours Naruto spend watching over overly happy Jiraiya. The many curtains and odd shadows and the tricks of lightning hid Naruto from plain sight and neither Jiraiya nor the other patrons of the tent noticed him. But then, they were concentrating onto the stage where several scantily clad girls and women were happy to receive all their attention - and money. Naruto's interest was mostly shallow and judgemental - though a few of them had pretty faces, his Oiroke form was better endowed.

After having been surrounded by perverts, taught by perverts and then having to serve a Hokage who in her fifties had been voted the hottest woman of all of Hidden Leaf… he just didn't have the same appreciation for physical beauty as most men seemed to have.

Thankfully, Jiraiya didn't seem to be in the mood of causing havoc. Mostly he drank his sake which the waitresses were happy to pour down his throat so as long as he kept spending money, and wrote down notes. Naruto had a feeling he was also doing sketches - the man was a good at stuff like that, though whilst Jiraiya could draw a woman clothed and naked some million different ways, he couldn't draw a man to save his life.

Finally, the show ended, the girls flaunted their half naked booties for one last round, gathered the last bits of their audience's appreciation, and then sauntered off. Some of the men hung around to drink and talk, longingly calling for encores, but Jiraiya didn't. Instead he finished his sake, closed his notebook, and stood up. Or tried to anyway.

Naruto laughed softly in the crimson shadows of the tent. He knew the particular stumble that sent his teacher-to-be back into his bench. It was when Jiraiya had drunk more than he could handle and had passed the point where world spun around him to the point where it didn't - the point where Jiraiya was absolutely convinced he was perfectly sober, and couldn't figure out why he couldn't speak or stay upright. If Jiraiya had actually managed to write in that state, his notes probably consisted of mere incoherent scribbling and random happy sketches which made no sense.

Detaching himself from the shadows, Naruto approached his teacher. No one paid much mind to him as he tapped the man's shoulder, making Jiraiya sluggishly turn around. "Come on," Naruto said. The situation was so familiar, so homely - how many times he had done it back when they had been travelling? - that he couldn't help it. The actions came automatically as he took the other Shinobi's arm and hoisted it over his shoulders, before pulling the white haired man to his feet. Even Jiraiya's dead weight was familiar.

"'rashi-shan?" the Legendary Sage slurred to him with confusion as Naruto steered him towards the exit. "Whaddya doing?

"Giving you a hand," Naruto answered, quickly making up an excuse. "We don't want drunken ninjas in the Carnival grounds. They tend to start demonstrating how awesome they are and that leaves us with tents on fire. I'm afraid I will have to kick you out as a precaution."

"…knew yer're evil," Jiraiya cackled into his ear, leaning onto him heavily as if trying to consciously make the task of supporting him even more difficult. "Yer a weird one, 'rashi-shan," the man said heavily. "Weird s-shin-shii… ninja. Joinshed the carnival. Heh heh… ninja carnival. 'at would be awshome…"

Naruto grinned behind the mask. Apparently Jiraiya had yet to master the art of not babbling whilst drunk. "Like you're a normal one."

"I'm awshome leg… legndry Jiraiya-shama, Toad Shage from Myoubokuzhan!" Jiraiya laughed. "Courshe 'm not normal!"

"Of course," Naruto agreed, trying not to shiver. The man was yelling the words into his ear. "Where's your inn?"

"Thatawaydirection," Jiraiya pointed happily - away from the town.

"The other way it is," the younger Shinobi nodded, and turned them towards the town.

For about five minutes there was comfortable, hazy silence as Naruto reminisced all the times he had dragged Jiraiya off to some inn to sleep, and Jiraiya tried to figure out how exactly people walked. The longer it went on, the more nostalgic it felt. It was odd, bittersweet sensation, happy and sorrowful at the same time, cherished and hated. Some part of Naruto was still mourning for his teacher, and never would stop. It was, oddly enough, the same part which was mourning Nagato. But then, Nagato was connected. Just like Minato. Just like Naruto. They were all Jiraiya's students - and each of them had come out superb in their chosen fields.

Jiraiya started humming a broken tune drunkenly, snapping Naruto out of his thoughts. Glancing at him and at the look of intoxicated happiness on his face, Naruto frowned. Jiraiya had taught his students to be magnificent. And all of them had ended up dying magnificent deaths. Minato whilst sealing the Kyuubi and saving Hidden Leaf. Nagato whilst reviving the people of Hidden Leaf he himself had killed. And Naruto… he _probably_ had died, or would've died, for similar reasons. To protect Hidden Leaf from the Kyuubi and Juubi.

That made him realise one thing - he, Minato and Nagato didn't only share Jiraiya, but also Madara. Madara had created Akatsuki, and no doubt had had great hand at making Nagato the way he had ended up. Madara had sent the Kyuubi to Hidden Leaf. And in the end… Naruto had probably died in his hands after fighting him and his bloody organisation for years.

Spiral of hatred and pain, they had called it. It seemed more like a circle to Naruto.

"Jiraiya," Naruto said as they came to the town's edge. "Do you believe in destiny?"

The man gave him a sideways look. "'course," he said, shrugging his shoulders and nearly sending them both to the ground by shifting his centre of weight so suddenly. He laughed as Naruto stumbled and tried to keep them upright. "There'sh a propheshy," the white haired Sage continued. "Yanno. Tellsh about the foot… future. About me. That I will have a… shtudent. Shosen one. And I'm gonna deshide whether they will deshstroy or shave the world."

"Shave the word?" Naruto asked with mild amusement, for a moment imagining a huge godly razorblade raking over the entire world. It made sense though. Destroy or save the world. Nagato had done little bit of both, but hadn't really succeeded in either as far as Naruto knew. The world had been a messed up place the last time he had seen it in the future, but it had still been there. "Do you think it was a real prophesy?" he asked curiously.

"Never failed, the toad that gave it. In making propshies, zat is," Jiraiya giggled, leaning close and grinning widely. "He alsho shaid I'd be a pervert. Wash right about that. Even wrote a book like he told me to. No one liked it though… Havn't had much ss…shuckshess at it shinshe."

A book. Naruto looked up to the darkening sky above them. Jiraya had written lot of books, but he had a feeling what book was the one who had made the prophesy had meant. He smiled thinly. It might've not been popular but it had been even more significant. To him, to his father, to Nagato. "I've read it," he said. "The Tale of Gutsy Ninja, that is. It's my favourite book."

"Really?" Jiraiya looked at him with drunken disbelief. "Whaddidya like 'bout it?"

Naruto thought about it for a moment. In whole, he liked the book mostly because it was so familiar to his own life and the main character was much like he himself was - they even had the same name. But he also knew Nagato had read it, the book had been dedicated to him after all. And Nagato probably had once upon the time seen himself as the hero too. In the end, though… with few lines Naruto had turned him into the villain. _You give up trying to make me give up._

"I like the fight in the woods, and the speech Naruto gives," he said. "The words, _If there is such a thing as peace, I'll find it…_ I really liked those."

Jiraiya snorted. "Bit too over the top," he mumbled and then frowned. "Bit too idealshtic. Might be why the book didn't do sho well. Got the whords from one of my previoush studentsh, yanno. He wash a… shenshitive li-little guy."

Naruto nodded absently. It made odd sense that the words had came from Nagato, as they had lead him to fighting for peace in Village Hidden in Rain, which on other hand had ended up in Nagato's team mate's death and eventually to Nagato starting in his ultimate path. Six Paths of Pain.

"Where is he now?" Naruto asked. "That student of yours."

"Mmh. Shomewhere in Hiddun Rr...Rain. Or shomewhere closhe by. I hear that they were fighting for peashe there… shomewhere in there," Jiraiya said and as he tried to make a vague motion towards where he probably did the village in question was, his arm slipped from Naruto's shoulders, sending the elder man to the ground. Naruto barely managed to keep him from hitting his nose against a near by wall by grabbing the man's hand and slowing down his sudden descent. "Hehehe," the Legendary Sage laughed happily. "I fell."

"Yes, you did," Naruto sighed, easing the man to sit on the ground as Jiraiya seemed to have no intention of getting up anytime soon. Crouching before him, the masked Shinobi of Leaf stared at his teacher. "Thanks," he said after moment of half drunken staring contest.

"What?" Jiraiya asked, tilting his head confusedly back to lean it against the wall.

"Thanks," Naruto repeated, leaning his chin to his knuckles and his elbow to his crouched knee. "I didn't know what I was meant to do, you know. Didn't have the foggiest. Then you show up and I remember all this stuff I had almost forgotten. The important stuff, you know, the links in the chain…"

He reached out and steadied Jiraiya who looked dangerously like he was about to fall to his side. The way Jiraiya was frowning was a telltale sign that he had no idea what Naruto was talking about. That was okay, though, as Naruto didn't really know either. "I can't go back home, it's not home anymore. I didn't think there'd be anyone here I'd fight for, except maybe for _that_ guy but even that's kinda tricky considering that he's the enemy and was the one to destroy my village in the first place," Naruto chuckled. "But here you are. The beginning of it all."

"O' what?" Jiraiya asked.

Nagato's downward spiral. Naruto's own upward spiral. One of the first, and most important circles that linked with so many others into a chain of endlessly repeating sorrows. "Something important," Naruto answered. Jiraiya had frightening ability to remember important things from when he had been drunk, so he didn't dare to give too much information. "There's nothing you can do about it. You don't _know_ like I do. But that's the point. I _do_ know. Maybe that's why they sent me here," Naruto trailed away. Of course there'd be a reason. Shinobi like Itachi and Nagato didn't do things without purpose. "Because I knew and could change it all. Of course… they even told me to do it. I'm just slow on the uptake."

"Yer making no shenshe," Jiraiya offered with a smile.

"I'm thick like that," Naruto admitted, glancing over his shoulder as he felt a presence near by. It was Minato, who probably now did what Naruto himself had - and maybe never would after all - done in the future. Looking for his no-good teacher. "Well, that's about it for my confessions," he murmured, turning to Jiraiya. "Thank you, Jiraiya," he said solemnly while standing up. "For this and for so many things you don't know about."

As Jiraiya looked at him, trying to comprehend, Naruto turned towards Minato who was still, thankfully, out of hearing range. "Over here, Minato-kun," he called and felt the presence spike with surprise before the young Leaf-nin sped up his steps and made his way towards him.

"Arashi-san… oh no," the blonde boy said at the sight of his teacher. He stared at the drunken man for a moment before sighing and covering his face with his hand. "Again. I came looking for him, hoping it wouldn't be something like this keeping him, but… I guess I was hoping too much. Jiraiya-sensei, you can be so embarrassing at times!"

Naruto laughed while leaning down to drag Jiraiya to his feet. "Come on, Jiraiya-san," he grunted while taking most of the man's weight. "Let's get you somewhere where you can sleep this off. Lead the way, Minato-kun."

xx

My favourite part of the story so far :)

My apologies for possible grammar errors and such. My excuse is being Finnish and beta-intolerant. If you notice any that bother you, tell me and I will fix them.


	5. Forbidding Entrance

**Forbidding Entrance  
**

Naruto hadn't really thought he'd stay with the Carnival for long. In the end being part of the circus had been little more than way to kill some time before something interesting and more meaningful would come along - also, being part of the Carnival group had saved him from the trouble of finding food and shelter and such. However, he hadn't really thought he'd leave the group so soon. He had barely been more than handful of days with them, and only through one festival.

"Some are like that," Yonige said. "They come, they stay for couple of days, and then they take off. It's nothing new."

"I feel a bit guilty. You guys took care of me and fed me, and I can't even pay you back," Naruto sighed, rubbing the back of his head. He firmly believed that favours should always be repaid - accepting favours and never paying back for them after all was laziness and just plain mean.

"We don't really ask for that," the dark skinned man shrugged. "Some here pay more than others and others have nothing to pay with. This isn't really a place of wealth, you know. We're just trying to survive in this world and maybe have some fun while we do it."

"I still feel like I ought to give you back for what you did for me," Naruto sighed and lowered his hand. What did he have? His jumper, shirt, underwear, his sandals… that was about it. He didn't even have the first Hokage's necklace anymore, nor any idea what had happened to it… not that he would've given it away if he had had it.

He frowned. His clothes were worthless, even the fabric was so worn that it was no use. Maybe something immaterial then. But what did he have that was immaterial? Pretty much nothing. He could've sworn to be someone's friend, or protect them, or fight with them… or for them. But the people of the carnival neither needed nor wanted that sort of favours. They prided in existing without external aids and going wherever they wanted by their own means. He couldn't even teach anyone any of his Ninjutsu. All he knew was too energy draining for any of the few in the carnival to use and the low level stuff was mostly useless…

He sighed. Material things rarely meant much to him, but it somewhat sucked when he realised he had nothing to _give_.

"It's okay, Arashi," Yonige chuckled. "You've already given us something which will probably be useful one day."

Naruto looked up a bit dubiously. "What's that?"

"A story," the man answered simply and smiled. "A young ninja found in a shoreline, mysteriously out of his senses, who joins a punch of refugees and then a Carnival, even if for a little while. You can make physical duplicates of yourself and for one entire evening you shadowed a group of Shinobi before leading them safely away from us. It might not seem like much of a story to you, but with few retellings, it will be interesting. Few of the women are already considering making a theatre act, inspired by you."

"Really?" Naruto asked with disbelief. "But I didn't do anything."

"The whole mask thing with the Leaf-nin - and we all saw you being all friendly with the Jounin …" Yonige chuckled. "We'll have a good story out of it in no time at all. Story of Arashi, the Fox-mask ninja. With little bit of honing, it might even be a hit."

Naruto smiled grimly. "If you say so," he answered. The carnival people had strange way of looking at things, but if they were satisfied with that, he wasn't going to blame them. He loved a good story. If they managed to engineer one out of him, then that was all right with him. "I think I will come back one day, to see how you guys are doing. If you make a theatre act outta me, I guess I should try and make sure I'll see it one day."

Yonige smiled crookedly. "I expect by the time you do come back, half of us will be gone," he said, motioning Naruto to follow. "I suppose it's a heartening sentiment, though. Most of those who leave us tend to be happy to see the last of us, you know. I doubt they really look back to their Carnival days fondly. We tend to be the pit beyond the finish line where those who lost their races end up falling."

"You also tend to be the fondest childhood memories people have," Naruto answered, not really happy to see Yonige describe the carnival so. He had nothing but happy memories of the Carnival - both in the past and in the future.

"It all balances out that way," Yonige agreed and led him towards one of the stalls. "We have a sort of unofficial tradition among the group," he said. "About when members leave, that is. You weren't exactly a member, though, but you weren't bad so I might as well honour the tradition."

Naruto blinked with confusion while the man walked to the stall and talked with the manager. After moment of talking, the man selling the masks took out the fox mask Naruto had returned some time after taking Jiraiya to the town. Yonige bought the mask and then turned to Naruto. "Here," he said and threw the mask at him.

"You're giving me this?" Naruto asked, looking down to the mask. He hadn't really taken it in before, as he had only grabbed it because it was the closest thing, and whilst wearing a mask it was hard to see what it looked like. It was a simple thing, red with black lines to make it fox like. With different markings it could've just as easily been a cat mask or raccoon mask. He looked up. It reminded him too much of both the Kyuubi and Gaara, oddly enough. "Why?"

"Tradition," Yonige shrugged. "People tend to come here without anything, so we get them something when they leave. Don't worry. The mask was pretty cheap."

Naruto looked down to it and sighed. He set it on his head, to rest atop his hair. He had no head band to make him ninja of the Hidden Leaf and he had no demon to make him a Jinchuuriki, but maybe the mask was as good as, for now. "Thanks."

Yonige seemed satisfied before nodding towards the edge of the camp. "Now get out of here."

Naruto hesitated and then nodded. It would be useless to offer words of goodbye. He didn't know the man that well anyway. Instead he merely walked past the man and towards the edge between the nomads, and the ruthless world they tried to shut out. On his way he saw Shindoi in her pretty yukata, but seeing her in conversation he decided not to bother her. He hadn't known her that well either.

Giving last thought of the life he might've been able to lead in the Carnival, to the fleeting wish of maybe one day seeing Shindoi happy and Yonige not so hollow and maybe even witnessing light of sanity return to Creature's eyes, Naruto walked away and to the unknown.

**x**

It was the last year of his travels with Jiraiya when the longest, simplest and still hardest lesson he had ever had finally had sank into his mind and he realised that he was living in a metaphorical mountain range, and had been ever since he had been twelve years old. It was hard to see the mountains as mountains when you stood upon the peaks, not unless you looked down and saw the rocks and particles of sand in the valleys between.

Before he had even fully realised what Shinobi were and what they did - and how hard they all strived to horde their strength and powers - Naruto had already gotten used to people such as Kakashi, the Third, Jiraiya and Tsunade. He had gotten adjusted to having enemies like Akatsuki and Orochimaru. To him having equal in someone like Gaara was perfectly normal and commonplace.

He hadn't realised that all their strength and prowess were literally immeasurable until Jiraiya had sat him down and explained everything - explained the facts of Shinobi life which should've been obvious from the start to which Naruto had been completely oblivious to.

Most Shinobi died at young age - not at thirty, not at twenty, but usually under the age of seventeen. Genin and Chuunin who were given missions too difficult them and who died unable or in order to complete them - or worse yet, they died in wars they were ill prepared to fight. The rest never amounted to much - Shinobi like Iruka and Mizuki were painfully common. Too knowledgeable to waste, too weak to ever become anything impressive. The rest were the rarest. Only one tenth of all people who became Shinobi became Jounin or special Jounin. And two thirds of those died before their fifth year of being such.

People like the Three Great Ninja, the Kages and the Akatsuki were the faction of a percentage. In more than fifty years, Hidden Leaf had only produced four or five Kage level Shinobi. Approximately five hundred Genin had graduated in Hidden Leaf during those fifty years - plus about two to three hundred unofficial graduates who had became the unknowns and were from young age trained as members of the Anbu, the Root and the Hunter-nin. Seven to eight hundred ninja altogether. The ones of those hundreds who had became great could be counted with one hand - and two of the fingers had to be cut because they had became missing-nin.

Strength was easy to measure completely wrong when you were surrounded by monsters. And though Naruto hadn't been equal to them that time, he had become so. The Kyuubi had brought him near, summoning contract had taken him even further and then Rasenshuriken had even closer still. And then, all of sudden, Senjutsu had shot him right past them, past Jiraiya and Tsunade, even past Nagato.

And he still had fallen a little short of Madara.

Now he didn't know if he had any of that anymore. The Kyuubi was gone and the seal on his belly held nothing inside it anymore. He could no longer summon, as the contract of toad summoning at this time did not bear his signature and he lacked the right connection. He didn't dare to try Rasenshuriken anymore - with the Kyuubi there it had been easy and safe, the demon's chakra had niftily repaired the damage, but not anymore. Though he had developed the jutsu into more controllable and less dangerous form, it still did damage to him - and without the Kyuubi there to heal him, it was a risk he couldn't take. Tsunade had said he'd risk losing ability to perform jutsu altogether. He could maybe do it in Sage mode, but… that was the question, wasn't it? The last weapon in his arsenal, the most powerful one next to the Kyuubi himself… did he still have it?

A day after leaving the Carnival, Naruto settled himself into a root of a small mountainside, away from its small and not so insignificant mining town. He had been there before, training with Jiraiya, back when the mountain had been older and with considerably more holes. The village had been abandoned at that time, the mines long since emptied of all of its precious ore. That time was yet to come, though. It was odd to see the village full of life but it barely bothered him as he settled almost four miles away from it.

In a small cavern at the root of the mountain, he sat down and meditated. He could vaguely remember how Iruka sensei had tried to teach it to him long ago, for patience and for chakra control. He had never gotten it. Then, not many Shinobi did meditate - the ones who did were either very old fashioned or had bloodlines which required extreme chakra control, like the Hyuuga and the Yamanaka. He, with his wild and boisterous mind and body which always demanded action and could only stay still in sleep or dead faint, was severely unfitting for the task of calming his heart and body and tuning his very mind out.

But jumping into a pond of frog oil could teach even the most stubborn of all ninja some new tricks. And despite jumping into it often, Naruto hadn't really wanted to turn into a frog.

His breath slowly turned steady and then distant, and one by one his thoughts faded away. He could feel the air shivering around him. The mountain above him and around him inhaled and exhaled and soon sensation came back like rush of warm water all over his body. There was no people around to be felt, no Shinobi whose chakra he could've sense, but he could sense the earth and the nature, the small bird nesting above the caver, the mice in their hole at the edge of it, the family of badgers not far away.

He smiled with contentment, his blood flowing at the same pace as a mountain brook not too far away, and breathed in with deep satisfaction. Despite no longer being a Shinobi and no longer being a Jinchuuriki, he was still a Sage.

**x**

Naruto could survive without people easily enough. His childhood had taught it to him in emotional level - though he had never appreciated the lesson - and ninja academy had completed the training in physical level. Kakashi had also had his hand at it, and in the end Jiraiya had honed his mastery of survival by his own lessons - and whole lot of explaining about what is and isn't edible in the wilderness.

So, when he made his way through wilderness with haphazard idea of where to go, he wasn't too worried. The forests of Fire Country were teeming with life, and not much of it could outrun him. Sure, rabbit meat was no ramen, but it sustained him easily enough and though he usually hated vegetables, they were sweetly abundant in the forests. Well, maybe they were for a ninja who could over up to sixty miles in single hour and had good observational skills, civilians might've had harder time finding something to eat.

Either way, being alone and without any gear didn't worry him - he could survive. Surviving and being comfortable while at it were two different things however and there were some things about his upcoming that weren't too appealing. Living under the sky could be romantic in some cases. Doing so in a rain without a tent or shelter however was not so romantic, which Naruto found during the third day of his rather haphazard travelling. When the train continued for two days straight, making not only sleeping but travelling difficult as well, he decided that he couldn't go on without gear.

With the Senjutsu he pinpointed the nearest large concentration of humans and made his way towards a small village, hoping to get a place to sleep and buy some things from there, tent, umbrella, maybe bedroll - some spices and maybe proper cooking gear would be nice too. A knife would've been grand as well, cutting fish and rabbits with sharp rocks and bare hands and then cooking them by holding them on a stick over fire wasn't exactly wonderful.

The lack of money was a problem, however. Thus, the first thing he did in the small back-water village wasn't to find a shop or in, but ask around if there was any work available. "I was hoping to buy some camping gear," he explained over and over while going around and asking if there was anything he could do for little bit of money. "But I don't have any money, so… if you have anything I could do…"

He had asked dozen people the same question when the villagers got annoyed to at him and finally got him something to do. "Rake my field and I'll give you fifty ryo - and after that you can get out of my sight," one old woman snapped at him. "If you can cut down that old tree over there, I'll give you hundred ryo," her neighbour said. "Dig up all the stones and rocks from my vegetable field, and I'll pay you," a local farmer offered. "If you can fix my roof…" said someone else and so forth. They were little task and offered mere pocket money, but for Naruto, they were more than enough.

With hundred clones and some wind manipulation on the tree which had apparently been threatening to fall onto a near by house, the all the work was finished within half an hour. He left behind few very surprised employers, pile of fire wood, patched up rooftop, a completely constructed picket fence, a somewhat well mended garden and very well uptrend rice field. While counting the money he had made - just little under thousand, not much but better than nothing - he counted his blessings as well. Despite absence of the Kyuubi, he still thankfully had larger than normal chakra reserves.

The ryo he had made wasn't enough to buy everything he wanted, so he didn't buy a tent at all. Instead he bought old rucksack from the village's only second hand store along with a pot and knife and last of his money he spent on second hand cloak and a well made bangasa umbrella. He figured that the umbrella would come in handy once he would reach his destination.

"What kind of ninja works chores to buy this sort of stuff?" the store keeper asked while counting the money - it was enough and left him with few ryo. "Not exactly Shinobi gear, this."

"It's better than nothing. And this is where ninja ends up when they have no money and make no plans," Naruto answered while opening the umbrella. The cloak was something of a disappointment - it was dark grey and just gloomy - but the umbrella was perfect. The carefully oiled paper was in colour of faded red which looked orange when seen in right light. "Thanks, old man," he grinned as the man handed him his change back. "There wouldn't happen to be a place that sold ramen anywhere near by?" he asked hopefully.

"No, but the tea house in the corner makes good udon."

"Ah, good enough."

With some stuff and stomach filled with warm food, Naruto continued his journey towards the Country of Rain.

**x**

It took longer than it would've had he been travelling with someone with a map and better directional senses, but Naruto eventually made it to the country border. By that time he had grown very fond of his umbrella - it had already saved him from four rainy nights - and the cloak was growing on him too. It was ugly, but pleasantly warm. He had also learned that the pot he had bought made the food made in it taste funny, but he had gotten adjusted to that.

The border between Land of Fire and Land of Rain wasn't exactly tightly guarded. There was about hundred miles worth of the border but there were only two guard stations there with on the boarded with two Chuunin at each station and few civilians. Naruto had a feeling it would be quite different from the other side though. They had no need to guard the board on Fire's side since they had nothing to fear from Rain - but Rain had lot to fear from Fire. The country had been the battlefield of several wars, after all, and the experience hadn't made it exactly trustworthy towards guests. Rain Shinobi and people might've not been plentiful, but they were strong and suspicious to bitter end. And if what Naruto had heard of Hanzo was accurate, they were also very conscious of their security.

Slipping _to_ the border would be easy. But slipping past it was a whole different thing. There was the standard forty-feet long gap between the countries, the open country border which had been chopped clean of trees and cleared of biggest rocks to make the view undisturbed and unhindered. With countries like Wave and such which had no ninja organisations established, the border was easy to just walk over. However, here that forty feet gap ended in a wall almost as high as the wall surrounding Hidden Leaf, and even without needing to use Senjutsu, Naruto could feel that within two mile radius there was half dozen Shinobi in guard, and they weren't mere Chuunin. It was probably like that along the whole border.

"Who ever runs this place doesn't mess around, huh?" Naruto murmured while taking hold of his mask, which was resting on top of his hair, and pulling it to his face. If he was seen, he didn't want his face becoming the next most wanted poster. He had no intention of storming the castle all by himself, though. He knew that would fall embarrassingly short or he would have to use so much force that he'd bring the wall down - and that would get Fire into trouble. No, he needed to find the subtle, unnoticeable way inside.

Taking his umbrella and pulling it shut, Naruto leaned it against his shoulder and pondered on the matter for a moment. After some thought, he sat down among the bushes and set himself for meditation. He couldn't hope to maintain Sage form for long without some tricks which he had no hope of doing that moment, but just moment in the mode would let him catch a glimpse of the surrounding area he otherwise would've been blind to.

The nature chakra surrounded him easily and while accepting it to his body he easily adjusted his chakra to accommodate it, automatically slipping into the Sage mode without much effort. Keeping his eyes closed, he allowed his senses to spread, feeling out the surrounding area and the people in it. Six ninja proved out to be eight, two of them using some sort of chakra suppression technique to hiding their presence. He could also sense at least one summon animal somewhere on the Rain's side, a small and fast and on the air. A bird probably.

He frowned, turning his attention from the humans to the things which were trickier to sense. Ground, rocks, the material of the wall, the construction of the barrier. Inanimate objects had chakra too - none of their own, but during their existence they brushed against so many living things that it left behind echoes. Most things were impossible even for Naruto, who had perfect Sage form, to sense, but thankfully the wall was coated in second-hand chakra due to high concentration of skilled, powerful Shinobi.

The wall was more like wall-shaped fortress than a wall. It was hollow with rooms and corridors inside it. The guards didn't just do shifts there; they seemed to live there around the clock. Also, the wall went as far down as it went up, having three sub-levels, all of them heavily fortified. Naruto was no builder, but even he could tell how sturdy the structure was. It also seemed to have an odd quality to it - to the rock it was made of. The outer layer, the one facing towards Fire country, seemed oddly… cold. It was chakra repellent - which meant one couldn't use chakra to run up it.

He twitched in his meditation. Rain-nin really took their defence damn seriously. What about the ceasefire? These guys made it seem like they were expecting assault any day.

Naruto knew he could get over the wall. Few Kage Bunshin mid air to work as step stones, he could get over any high wall. However he wouldn't be able to do it unnoticeably. Actually, the more he thought of it, the more it seemed like the only way inside would be very loud, visible and noticeable. And after that, he would have to either fight a lot or run even more. As he wasn't too keen on doing neither - actually, he would've just preferred being able to get inside without anyone noticing - he needed to figure something really smart, really fast.

He spent two hours in deep meditation, thinking about the problem, and came up with nothing.

**x**

Naruto camped near the border for a week, both annoyed and oddly intrigued by the challenge of slipping in unnoticed. His ninja career mostly consisted of explosions and running to or from something, so sneaking was a new and novel experience for him. Or, actually, it was old half forgotten thing turned new by absence of use. Before he had become a Genin, he had been sneaking everywhere all the time. The only time you were successful in a prank, after all, was when you came and went without anyone noticing.

It was somehow ironic that as a ninja he had done less sneaking around than he had done as a civilian. Considering what they were meant to be, Shinobi weren't all that stealthy most of the time.

During the week, Naruto walked up and down a stretch of the border, making mental notes and trying to find blind spots. There were almost none, as the wall was riddled with lot of eye-holes and all the time there was at least one Rain-nin atop the wall, where the view was no doubt perfect. Under that surveillance, Naruto took special care to stay hidden and using his Senjutsu training enhanced senses to make sure that no one would sense his presence, but he still knew that if he would walk out of the Fire country's forests, he would immediately be spotted.

But though there _were_ blind spots in the watch, they couldn't be used. The wall couldn't be climbed by normal means - and it wasn't like one of those old castles with rough wall made of round stones, no. The wall was made of precisely cut stones and the outside of it was polished smooth; there was nothing there to hold onto, making climbing by mere physical might simply impossible without loud tools that left signs. The only way to get over the wall without leaving evidence would be to fly.

But that raised some more problems. For once, the _barrier_. Like Hidden Leaf which was closed in barrier sphere, the entire Rain Country wall had an invisible barrier. Naruto was no master at sealing, but he had picked enough from Jiraiya to tell that crossing this barrier by force would be a bad idea. It was a surveillance barrier, which meant it immediately sensed and sent out a warning when unauthorised person crossed it.

The protection seemed impenetrable. But stubbornness was what Naruto was best at, and he wasn't about to give up. He was going to get into the country and without anyone noticing him, no matter how long it took.

He was at his third walk-along-the-wall of his seventh day of observing the wall, when opportunity presented itself. He could sense the Rain-nin in the wall moving about in oddly hasty manner - and then, some five minutes later, there was suddenly five times as many of then. Couple dozen people had arrived to the wall, and by the feel of them, they were all formidable. Quickly Naruto hid himself in the bushes and fell into meditative state to get a clearer image of the situation, and in Sage mode he could feel them. Party of Shinobi coming closer at the Fire's side.

An arranged meeting between two Shinobi factions, he realised. Two dozen on Rain's side and twenty on Leaf's side. And they were Leaf-nin, their identity immediately given away by a very familiar chakra. Danzo.

The timing was, Naruto realised, too good to be true, but he wasn't about to look his gift horse into the mouth. He needed to act. Getting up, Naruto opened his momentarily changed eyes and dashed into the bushes - and towards the quickly approaching Root-nin. The plan formed in his head, hasty and flawed but hopefully it would be good enough. As far as he knew, Root-nin were all supposed to be all quiet and subservient to their leader, so if he would take the spot of one of them and not speak a word, just mimic everyone around him… He might be able to slip in to not only the Land of Rain, but also the Hidden Village of Rain, completely unnoticed.

It was such a simple plan, but with Naruto's mastery over Henge - which he could make not only last indefinitely but make _physical_ when necessary - it could just work. "Did you plan, this, Nagato?" he asked quietly while rushing towards his targets. "Was this your plan all along?" As bothersome the thought of being manipulated usually was to him, oddly enough… this time he didn't mind.

Taking out the ninja at the rear of the group was painfully easy. A single Rasengan - and it wasn't even really strong one - knocked the man immediately out. Naruto made a clone on the fly to make sure to that the Root-nin wouldn't catch up with the others, after which he cast his Henge and followed the others. The entire exchange took about four seconds and, thanks to the speed the Leaf-nin were travelling, they were already out of hearing range in the first of those four seconds.

Naruto, now in shape of man about five years older than he was who had dark hair and broken tooth on left side, looked ahead, his senses locked of Danzo who had no idea he was being tracked. Danzo was younger than Naruto had ever considered him ever having been. In his time the man had seemed like little more than crippled old fart - until the point he brought out the whole Sharingan thing, naturally. All one eyed Shinobi in Naruto's eyes had been hiding one, it had seemed. Or few. Right now, thankfully, Danzo didn't seem to any Sharingan, but he was already a little bandaged.

He was also unnervingly able bodied.

The problem with old farts, Naruto had found during his time, was the fact that they fooled people around them by being old farts. Old man Hokage had nearly kicked Orochimaru's ass. Jiraiya had been slightly younger old guy and without doubt one of the five strongest people Naruto had ever met during his life. Tsunade had been a backwards old hag who had looked young and able bodied at her _fifties_. Old people were creepy. The key in keeping track of them was to remember that they hadn't always been old.

And that to get _old_ in Shinobi world, you had to be damn good. Only the powerful ones grew old. The weak ones died young.

Shaking the feeling of being unsettled by the man - who would never be the Hokage ever if Naruto had any say in it - Naruto looked ahead. They had come to the edge of border and Danzo was slowing down. The party stopped entirely once the reached the stripped border, getting into formation around Danzo and waiting. Naruto took the spot of the rear guard, happy as hell that Iruka and Sakura had drilled the common formations to his head.

They waited for one minute and then were joined in the field by a blonde haired man with odd, metallic mask, like breathing apparatus, who simply jumped down from the wall and landed on the ground on the other side of the field. He had his company like Danzo had and Naruto suddenly had a creeping suspicion that this was Hanzo, the leader of Rain during the time before Nagato had taken over.

The two leaders met in the middle of the field, outside of Naruto's hearing range. He frowned but didn't try to inch forward, only hoping to any deity listening that Danzo was about to be let inside the walls. Maybe this was even _that_ time. The time when Hanzo would betray Nagato and his friends and force one of them to commit suicide…

Hanzo and Danzo spoke for two minutes. Then Danzo beaconed his Shinobi to follow. To Naruto's utter dismay, Hanzo and his guard made their way up the wall with disgusting ease, as if the chakra-repelling rocks weren't even there. Then, as he watched, Danzo did the same.

Of course. The Rain-nin wouldn't make a wall they themselves couldn't cross. In the chakra-repelling stones there were incorporated other ones which looked identical, but lacked the chakra-repelling effect. They were few and far between, and impossible to find even by Senjutsu enhanced senses, not unless one knew where they were.

After most of the group had made their way up, Naruto followed, taking especial care with where he stepped and how much chakra he applied. In fraction of a second he was on top of the wall and then following the others down to yard which looked like it had been through a recent and very destructive battle. The entire ground was stripped bare of any life with holes and shattered rocks everywhere, like remains of particularly vicious explosions. It was as if someone had hurled thousand bombs over the wall. Maybe they had, too.

"We will go about this as agreed, Danzo," Hanzo was saying as Naruto joined his _comrades_. "I lead, you follow. If this goes as planned, we will discuss about the rest later."

"Agreed," Danzo nodded and as Hanzo and his two dozen headed off, he glanced at his people. "Let's move out. Follow, but stay on your guard. This will be a test none of us will wish to fail."

Silence answered him and with satisfied nod he turned to follow Hanzo. His twenty - or nineteen - Shinobi from Leaf followed without a word an Naruto, with growing trepidation, took the rear once more. Test? He wondered nervously and suddenly was painfully aware that he had no idea whether or not Hanzo and Danzo had had dealings before Nagato's friend's death.

They ran and ran and ran and steady, fast pace. Naruto's Sage mode went and came without anyone noticing. Thankfully, it didn't seem to matter that he ran out of the extra energy - his Henge held and no one suspected anything. Danzo had no reason to doubt his own people, it seemed, and no one questioned him. They were too busy running.

Five minutes after leaving the wall, Naruto felt something moist brushing against his cheek. Ten minutes, and his face was getting wet as if he had been running through thick mist. Fifteen minutes, he felt the first rain drop. Twenty minutes, and they were suddenly running in the most depressing rain he had ever seen outside the Third Hokage's burial ceremony. It wasn't heavy or even particularly dark. Instead it was steady in the same way a river was steady - the way which indicated that it had been going for a while, and that it could continue for a while longer. Or that it had never really begun at all, and that it would never end.

The land was aptly named, he realised. He had thought that it just rained pretty often. Now, as he glanced around and saw only bare ground and rocks all around, he realised that this was a country without a single sunny day. Land of the Rain was a land where nothing grew because it never got sunlight.

No wonder it came with so many depressing tales. Or maybe it was raining because of the depressing tales. Circle of sorrow, that was what it was.

Half and hour and good thirty miles later, they stopped at last, to a rocky valley where they took the high ground. Naruto lingered in the back of the Leaf-nin group, safely out of sight, while Danzo and Hanzo exchanged few words. Then they waited. Naruto tried to keep cool and now show how nervous he was, but the whole situation had gotten very warped very quickly and the fact that he had no idea what was going on nagged in the back of his mind.

Fifteen minutes of silent, painstaking waiting later, he found out. That was when Nagato arrived with his friends.

xx

Next change I make to canon. In the manga/anime, it is made apparent that Nagato, Yahiko, Konan and their gang are part of Hidden Rain - they even wear the headbands. I'm going to change that, and in this fic they are merely shinobi who were born, live in and in their own way fight for Rain Country, but they aren't really associated with Hidden Rain Village. It makes more sense to me that they are rogue ninja from the Land of Rain, considering that Jiraiya trained them, and since Hanzo didn't know about the gang before they became somewhat better known. Kind of seems odd to me that leader of a hidden village wouldn't know about the shinobi of that village - or couldn't just order them to disband or something like that.

My apologies for possible grammar errors and such. My excuse is being Finnish and beta-intolerant. If you notice any that bother you, tell me and I will fix them.


	6. Fox Sage

**Fox Sage**

No words were said, no chances given. Before Naruto got the chance to realise that _this_ was _it_, Hanzo's and Danzo's people had already surrounded the three - who, when Naruto looked more closely at them, didn't seem to much older than he was - and had taken away any chance they had of escaping. The scuffle that followed was short and brutal and Naruto thanked heavens that powerful ninja often risked common sense for sense of drama - Hanzo didn't try to kill the three outright even though he had the advantage and instead went for the weakest. Before Nagato - healthy, not-yet-starved Nagato - or his friends had the change to really fight back, the fight was already over. Konan ended up as a prisoner, leaving her two companions surrounded in a rocky valley.

Everything grew still for a moment and only the rain moved, Naruto tensed and thought fast and hard. He would fight to end this without causalities, he knew. This was where Nagato had turned into Pain, so if he would manage to keep his friend - Hiko or something - from dying, so many tragedies would be prevented. And maybe, maybe, Nagato would become real saviour instead of the almost-destroyer he had ended up being.

"Your gang had been the thorn on my side for too long," Hanzo spoke finally. "Yahiko," he turned Nagato's orange haired friend. "As the leader you will die here today. If you don't…" he held a kunai on Konan's neck. "If you don't, this girl will die here and now."

Naruto could see Nagato start slightly and grimaced. Under the Henge, he reached for the fox mask and pulled it to cover his features. He had no plan, no idea whether it would work, no one to back him up… but that had never stopped him before. Hanzo might've beaten Tsunade, Jiraiya and Orochimaru in the Second Great Ninja War. But Nagato had beaten him. And Naruto had beaten Nagato. Even without the Kyuubi or summoning, Naruto still considered it fair odds.

"You, with the red hair! Use this to kill him," Hanzo called, throwing a kunai at Nagato's feet. "If you do, I'll let this girl free."

Nagato stared at the kunai, wide eyed, while Konan opened her mouth and screamed. "Don't, Nagato! Don't worry about me! You two just get out of here!"

Naruto frowned at the kunai. What was it with powerful Shinobi that made them stall like this? Akatsuki had done it too every now and then, taunting and flaunting their opponent's weakness and not even _trying_ all that hard to beat them. Was it that everyone was so far below them that they didn't need to make any effort? Or that inside they were afraid that their opponents were stronger than they were and would beat them with half a chance?

His frown darkened. It didn't matter. He needed to do something. _Now_.

"Nagato," Yahiko said below them. "Kill me." Nagato didn't move. "Do it! Nagato!"

Everyone was concentrating onto Yahiko and Nagato. It was as good as it was going to get. Naruto shot into movement, circling around Danzo's ninja and bringing his hands into a seal. His Kage Bunshin appeared without a verbal command, the Henge falling from over him as fifty Bunshin shot forward, half to take Danzo's nineteen Shinobi, other half to take Hanzo's twenty four. In the split-second of chaos that ensued, Naruto went for Hanzo who, with his Shinobi standing behind him protecting him and Konan taking his attention in the front, was ill prepared for the attack.

As Naruto took hold of the man's elbow and waist, he blessed Frog Katas - even without Senjutsu to back them up. Toads had no fangs and claws and often they couldn't even use weapons, so the Toad style of hand-to-hand combat was aimed mostly towards making the opponent harm himself with his own strengths and weapons. Toads were also most protective of all summons, which gave a flavour to the fighting style which Naruto very much liked. It was like made for saving hostages.

Twist with right hand to pull Hanzo's left arm, pull by left hand to bring him out of balance, and knee up to Hanzo's back to make him disoriented. Another twist of arm to secure the kunai in the man's hand and kick to behind the knee to throw his balance completely off. In result Hanzo crumbled to his knees, his own kunai pointed at his neck. The whole sequence was executed within few seconds

"Go," Naruto snapped to shocked Konan, who hastily scrambled to her feet and joined Nagato and Yahiko, who seemed relieved and confused at the same time.

"Who the hell…" Hanzo growled, his eyes widening as he saw Naruto's clones rampaging among the rest of the Shinobi. Clones weren't enough to take Shinobi of this level, but they were enough to distract them - and with few well aimed Rasengans, the clones had even managed to take out a few. "You're one of their friends, aren't you? You sneaked in after them?"

Naruto grinned and smiled. "Actually, I came with Danzo," he answered, reaching to take one of Hanzo's kunai to secure it to the man's neck. "Now, how about telling your Shinobi to stand down, mm, Hanzo-san?"

Hanzo hesitated before turning under Naruto's hold. "Kill him!" he yelled at his people.

Once upon a time Naruto would've been surprised by the order, or by the ensuing attack. Once upon a time he had been naïve enough to think that having a leader as a hostage was enough to end a fight. Once upon a time, the attack would've caught him out of guard and might've even taken him down. But Shinobi could feel intentions and as Naruto didn't intend to kill, no one ever took his threats seriously. He had gotten adjusted to being underestimated even in the direst of circumstances. He was also used to worse opponents than these, to be honest. Hanzo, Danzo and their people were good. But currently they didn't hold a candle to Akatsuki.

The Kage Bunshin already had a Rasengan ready and before Hanzo's Shinobi caught Naruto, the Rasengan caught Hanzo. As the man slumped to the ground with a hole on the side of his uniform and blood coming from his lips, Naruto jumped up to the air. He brought his hands to a seal and grinned behind the mask. For a while the rain glowed red and orange, before half thousand of his clones descended upon the Shinobi below.

The thing about shadow clones was that the more there were of them, the weaker they were. Naruto's chakra was always evenly split between himself and his clones, so if he had one clone, it had half his strength. It he had hundred; each had one hundredth of his strength. Five hundred clones made five hundred very weak clones, especially since he didn't have the Kyuubi's chakra to back him up. But what shadow clones lost in strength, they gained in ability - because they were exact clones of him they had his memories, his abilities and most of all, his skills. Shadow clones were the only type of clone - aside from few specialities like wood clones - that could perform Ninjutsu and manipulate their chakra.

Naruto had been using massive amounts of clones in each of his fights from when he had been twelve, and he knew exactly where their strengths lied and how to utilise them. Mostly he used them as distraction these days, as having hundred or so identical guys come at you could be highly distracting. The other uses were often useless because of the calibre of the guys he ended up fighting - the more specialised uses of his clones didn't do much when most his opponents could see through his schemes.

These Shinobi, however, weren't ones with Sharingan or Rinnegan or even Byakugan. If there were some among these Shinobi who had the ability to see through illusions, they were too disoriented to make difference. That gave Naruto a rare chance to use his clones in a way he had dreamed off for a while now, but which would've made no difference in all his previous fights.

Having five hundred clones come at you was shocking. But it turned into a complete chaos when they Henged into those they were fighting. Most of the time Henge was useless against Shinobi, but in a battle where your enemies look exactly like you and your comrades, it was a little startling - and gave the enemy a split second chance, which was all Naruto's clones needed. Many of them were quickly dispelled, but they still had ten to one advantage - and with each clone dispelled, the rest got a little stronger as its strength was divided among the remaining clones.

Naruto, the only one still in his original form, grinned before jumping down to Nagato and his friends. The three backed away from him, Nagato now holding the kunai Hanzo had supplied up in defence. "Relax," Naruto snorted at them, his eyes on the chaotic fight. "I'm here to help."

"Why?" Yahiko demanded to know.

"Because of your teacher," Naruto answered honestly, making the three of them start. He nodded ahead, up to the natural stone walls surrounding them. More clones were being dispelled as the enemy quickly figured out how to deal with them. "Eyes on the game, guys. My clones aren't going to keep them busy for long." He frowned as he noticed someone who wasn't at all occupied with the clones.

Danzo, unsurprisingly, had never been fooled by the clones, and had instead secured Hanzo. "Who are you?" the bandaged called to Naruto. "You said you come here with us. You're not from this land originally."

"No, not really," Naruto smiled behind the fox mask. "You catch on _quick_." With a laugh he pulled out his umbrella from his rucksack and idly pushed it open. The rain was really irritating and he was more than glad he had chosen it instead of the tent. "I'm just a Sage, passing through," he continued cheerfully while idly turning the umbrella's handle in his palm, making the entire umbrella spin. Anonymity was pretty fun.

"A Sage, hm?" Danzo asked, narrowing his lone visible eye.

"Yup," Naruto answered mockingly. "Think of me as travelling door-to-door wisdom salesman, if that helps." He glanced at Nagato and his friends who still seemed unsure about whether he was a friend or enemy. At least they seemed a little more trusting of him than initially. "You know, I think we ought to get out of here, or fight, or something."

"I vote for getting out of here," Yahiko said immediately as more of Naruto's clones were dispelled and few of the Shinobi who had been fighting them turned their attention on the four of them instead.

"Seconded," Konan agreed quickly, taking out couple of kunai as precaution. Quiet Nagato nodded hastily as handful of Shinobi moved to attack, Danzo behind them yelling orders at them.

"Alright, motion passed. Let's go," Yahiko said and as they backed away a little, Naruto brought his hands together, balancing the umbrella on the crook of his elbow. He launched another massive shadow clone art for distraction as the four of them turned tail, and ran.

**x**

"So, how do you know Jiraiya-sensei? You said you're here because of him?" Yahiko asked while Naruto curiously looked around in the hideout the three had brought him to. It was, as far as he could tell, a network of caves, though of course he hadn't seen all of it. He had only seen one tunnel and handful of doors before he had been brought into the rather large cavern where they currently were, which had been tediously made liveable by some rough furniture and lanterns - there was even a stove in the cave for warmth.

"I met him in a carnival," Naruto shrugged, and pushed back his mask. The three unofficial Rain-nin stared at him with surprise as they saw he was a little younger than they were. Naruto grinned and sat down to a nearest empty bench, pulling his umbrella shut and setting it down to the floor to lean against the bench. "My name is Kazama Arashi," he told them his fake name. "Since we didn't have much chance for introductions before."

The three nodded slowly and quickly introduced themselves - not that Naruto needed it really. "You met Jiraiya-sensei in a carnival and just decided to come here?" Konan asked a little disbelievingly. "Just like that?"

"He told me about you, and you seemed like interesting bunch of people," Naruto shrugged, running his hands through his hair in attempt to stop the water from dribbling to his eyes. He felt like he was soaked all the way to the bone. "Good thing I came too. You looked like you were in trouble," he said and glanced around them again. It was getting late but there was still handful of kids around, some of them younger than Naruto had been when he had graduated from Academy. Considering what he had heard of Rain, there could be only one reason why they were there. "Do all these kids have nowhere to go?" he asked quietly.

"There's always someplace to go. It just rarely is a place you want to go," Yahiko answered, folding his arms and looking around. "We take everyone we can, but we're not exactly well funded and most of the time we're too late to help anyone. Still, we make do with what we have and try to help anyone we can without resorting to violence. The ceasefire has been a blessing, though."

Naruto nodded. It was odd, with the history he had with Nagato and Yahiko as the Deva Path and Akatsuki's leader, but he couldn't help but wonder if this group of ragtag kids were the most admirable Shinobi faction he had ever encountered. At least if what Nagato had told him about their group and their goals in the future was right, it was admirable. In a middle of a war ravaging through their nation, which wasn't even part of the war, they strived for nothing but peace - and without weird world-dominating jutsu or twisted logic, but by not fighting. Even the best of Hidden Leaf Shinobi hadn't been able to do that.

"Considering the odds against you…" he murmured, and sighed. This wasn't like the hardships he was adjusted to. But then he had a village and home and safe place to turn to. What did these people have? Each other and a dream. Those weren't good odds, but these people were surviving. It was better than he would've managed in their shoes. He turned to face Yahiko. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

The orange haired Shinobi, fellow student of Jiraiya's though Yahiko didn't know that, gave him a half suspicious, had thoughtful look. "There's always something," he said. "We're not gonna run out of work anytime soon around here."

The entire gang under Yahiko's leadership consisted about two dozen people, mostly kids who were either middle of haphazard training or had no training at all. They all lived in the caverns that seemed to be found everywhere in Country of Rain - the endless flow of water had pored so many holes through the land that there was certainly no shortage of them. The group, Naruto found very soon, really had a single goal in life, dream of peace, which was in some cases only reason they still kept going. Yahiko was the group's undisputed leader, their motivational force, their heaviest hitter - their sacrificial guardian. Their own Fourth Hokage.

It all seemed painfully sad, Naruto thought, and equally hopeful. Most of them were as young as or much younger than him. Many were badly wounded, few were even missing limbs. War had rattled them roughly and it was a miracle they had survived at all - not to mention surviving with such a strict and positive goal. It was mostly Yahiko's doing, he realised soon. The orange haired Shinobi, who would now never be Nagato's Deva Path, strived for his goal and dream with such single minded optimism that it reminded Naruto of himself. It was enough to warm the people around Yahiko even when it was raining cats and dogs.

Of course, though Naruto was _let in_ to the group, they didn't trust him at first. If these guys were good at something, it was learning, one betrayal had taught them quickly and efficiently. Since Naruto had supposedly come from Fire Country's side, they suspected that he was a spy at first, and that the whole thing had been staged to insert him into their group. But thankfully it didn't take them too long to realise how needlessly complicated the scheme for that would've been - and why to insert a spy when Hanzo could've simply had them killed that time?

"Arashi-san, that clone art you did," Yahiko said once, while he and Naruto were working to make a new bed for one of the kids who had grown out of her previous one. "They were physical clones, but not elemental. Was it Kage Bunshin?"

"You know it, Yahiko-san?" Naruto asked with mild surprise. The other nodded, making him raise his eyebrows. "A forbidden technique from the Hidden Leaf, invented by the First and Founding Hokage, and here you, a Shinobi from Rain, know it," Naruto murmured through the nails sticking out of his mouth. "Though I suppose you saw it with Jiraiya-san?"

"Yeah," Yahiko nodded, looking confused. "Did you learn it from him?"

"No, I learn it by other means," Naruto shrugged and grinned. "Means best left untold. What about it?"

"Why Kage Bunshin? Aren't elemental clones easier to do?"

"Well, maybe, but Kage Bunshin is actually pretty simple if you know the trick of it. It uses lot of chakra - and it has its weaknesses - but making shadow clones becomes second nature when you use it enough. Though I guess it could be like that with most Shinobi arts as well…" Naruto hummed. To the unfamiliar, Kage Bunshin could be difficult. He on other hadn't didn't even do the seals anymore and he only threw the combination seal mostly due to habit these days. "I've been using it so many years like that. I have pretty large chakra reserves, so it's a perfect jutsu for me. It's also the _only _clone I can do. The rest tend to blow up to my face."

"Hmm…" Yahiko leaned against the frame of the half finished bed. "I've been wondering about something, though. When Jiraiya-sensei used the clone, it could do Taijutsu and acted separately from him. Yours could to Ninjutsu - they Henged and I saw them use that wind attack, whatever it was. Can all Kage Bunshin do that?"

"That's why Kage Bunshin is a forbidden technique in the first place," Naruto shrugged. "Aside from the fact that the chakra drain could kill most Shinobi. When I perform Kage Bunshin, my chakra is split between them and me - it's not like elemental clones that get one tenth or one fifth, Kage Bunshin equal amount. So, if I have one Bunshin, it has half of my chakra. If I make hundred… well."

"Splits your chakra between you and the clones..." Yahiko murmured. "I suppose that explains it. Thought wont that mean that the more clones you make, the weaker they - and you - get?"

"Normally, but like I said, I have lot of chakra," Naruto shrugged. "Also, there's one more reason why I use shadow clones," he added. It hadn't been a reason originally as he had had no idea, but after completing Rasenshuriken, it had became one of the major reasons. "When one of them is dispelled, the rest get that clone's chakra - and all the experience the clone gained during its existence." He grinned when the other gave him a curious look. "I get the clone's memories," he specified. "That fight against Hanzo's and Danzo's people, I experienced it five hundred times."

"That would make them an incredible spying tool," Yahiko murmured, his eyes widening. "Or learning tool."

"Exactly," Naruto smiled. He now knew the faces, weapons and preferred fighting styles of both Hanzo's and Danzo's people, as well as some of their attacks. He had learned more from the short fight than any normal Shinobi would've. "Of course, getting that much information so quickly gives you one hell of a headache. And moving the chakra between clones and me takes energy, so the further the clone is from me, the more chakra is wasted during the journey from where it is to me. So, say... if my clone dispelled about fifty miles away, I wouldn't get the chakra or the memories, it would be all wasted on the way," he shrugged. "It's useful, but not perfect. I think the limit is about ten miles."

"Can you teach the clone to me too?" Yahiko asked eagerly. "Even if I could make just _one_ clone, it would help a lot! We're stretched thin trying to guard this place, but if I could have a clone like that on the look out, then... the warning system would be perfect! The moment it dispels, I'd know something was wrong - and if we'd be under attack, it would give us enough time to evacuate! Oh, and I could be in two places at once I could have the clone going over plans with Nagato and Konan while real me is teaching the younger kids!"

Naruto regarded him for a moment. He didn't know Yahiko well enough yet, nor Konan or Nagato. But there was something about the three that just struck him as _right._ The three of them the right idea. They were the beginnings of something that might eventually lead into a world changing revolution - and if it was played right, the revolution would do so much good. "Yeah," Naruto said. "I think I could try and teach it to you. Nagato-san and Konan-san too..." he trailed away. "Especially Nagato-san," he added after moment of thought. If Nagato could make Kage Bunshin work like the Six Path's of Pain... maybe he would never create the horrible technique.

**x**

Naruto didn't become part of the gang's small ring of leaders despite teaching the Kage Bunshin to Yahiko and Konan - Nagato already knew it, having learned it by watching Jiraiya. Konan only managed to make one clone, Yahiko made three and Nagato managed five, but for them it was more than enough when they realised the usefulness of the charka transfer. They made a habit of having clones as watchmen and having their clones study what little information they had gathered over the years of seeking peace.

Naruto didn't mind not being included, though, as he had very little to contribute. Yahiko had things perfectly under control and Nagato and Konan were there to point everything he missed. In all honesty, Naruto would've been a major hindrance to the three of them as he wasn't particularly detail oriented, didn't know enough about the land or it's problems and he knew that though he could lead people on a battlefield, maintaining a society - even a small one - was a different thing. If he had ever become Hokage, he would've left that aspect to advisors - and one of them would've been Shikamaru, preferably.

So, instead he turned to the second most important aspect of the life of their little gang. Teaching. Among the two dozen of the gang, there were nine kids who were under the age of ten, and they knew next to nothing of ninja arts. Yahiko wanted to teach them to defend themselves and each other if it would be necessary, but he and the three leaders didn't have the time - and the rest of the gang were either equally busy with securing food and supplies, or they simply didn't know enough to teach. Naruto on other hand had nothing to do as he couldn't help with establishment and wasn't exactly good at thieving, and he knew something about the subject, so he was perfect for the job. And the fact that he could teach the nine kids individually by making clones to attend to each of them also helped.

There was lot to do, though. The kids had next to none physical training, they were malnourished and most came from civilian families and thus had no affinity towards Shinobi arts. The fact that few of them had been maimed by the mine fields of Rain didn't help - two of the kids only had one good leg left, one of them had no feet at all and one girl had been blinded by explosion. But the disadvantages only made Naruto all the more keen to make them success.

"This sort of handicap is nothing," he assured Yoaruki, the boy whose legs ended in stumps just little below the knees. "There is always a way around any obstacle, no matter how big it seems. It might be hard to find, but there is always one. Trust me, we'll find it."

Thankfully, it wasn't hard at all to motivate the kids. They were all eager to improve and become useful to their leader, Yahiko, who had saved them. Naruto took all advantage of that and threw himself into teaching them and making them better. And so, while teaching the kids how to use chakra, having them do physical exercise so that they'd get stronger, he also began working around the handicaps of the injured ones. He decided to teach the very basics of Senjutsu to the blind girl, Shiryoku - being able to sense energies around her would cover for the lack of sight. He made better crutches to his one-legged students, Hidariyashi and Migiashi, and had them do balance training so that they could manage one footed. All the whilst doing this, he practiced carving on what little wood they could easily find, and eventually made simple, crude prosthetics for the boy with no feet, fastening them to the stumps with rough roes. The boy would have to use crutches, but after two years of being so handicapped, the boy could stand.

"I see having you teach them wasn't a bad idea at all, Arashi-san," Yahiko mused while watching two of Naruto's clones teach Yoaruki how to walk again. The orange haired leader smiled. "It's good to see them coming along so well - their spirits are high up too. You have good effect on them."

"They were only waiting for a chance to prove themselves - to you, Yahiko-san," Naruto shrugged, folding his arms and frowning. "It's still not enough." He didn't need to specify what he meant. The starvation, the handicaps, the simple fact that there were even few kids who couldn't read or write… and lack of recourses to give the handicapped ones proper crutches not to mention about prosthetics, it was all obvious.

"We need to concentrate onto the main issues. Supplies, and food. We're trying to strike a deal with one of the fishermen from a near by village," Yahiko answered with a sigh. "No one around here has much money to throw around, but if we could even get some proper fish to eat, then... after that, we will have one issue less to worry about."

Naruto nodded, and little further of them, his footless student was hesitatingly walking with only his own crutches to support him. Naruto joined his clones in proud applause, as did Yahiko. "It's something," Naruto said and smiled. It wasn't easy and for first time of his life Naruto cursed himself for thinking his own childhood a difficult one. But it was something, and something was whole lot better than nothing at all.

There was one good thing about being in a place where people lacked resources and information. No one there knew enough to be at all surprised by Naruto's Senjutsu. "Will she be able to go into that Sage state of yours?" Konan asked curiously as they watched over the blind girl who was trying to navigate by sensing the energies around her. The girl's determination had surpassed all others, and thanks to little bit of prior training about chakra with Konan, she was already on her way of extending her senses beyond her body.

"If she will, it will take lot of time," Naruto shook his head. "I would advise against trying it now. Lot of things can go wrong when you're dealing with nature's energy. Maybe in few years and lot of training, she might develop a Sage form of her own, but even then it won't be like mine."

"Sage form of her own? It's not universal, yours, I mean?" Konan asked thoughtfully, absently folding a piece of paper in her hands. It was turning into a slender origami cat under her fingers. "Though I suppose it makes sense. Most of the basic jutsu is different as well, but there can be so many different versions. Will her form have animal attributes as well?"

"If she manages to attain the form, it will take some characteristics from an animal she has affinity towards," Naruto shrugged and snorted softly. "With this much water around, she might even end up a toad-like, like me."

Konan gave him a confused look. "Toad-like?" she asked and handed her origami to him. "I've seen you twice meditating with her, and neither time you looked at all toad-like."

Naruto looked down to the origami. It wasn't a cat, it was a fox. "I haven't?" he asked confusedly before shaking his head. He couldn't exactly look at himself in his Sage form, so if there had been changes, it was no wonder he had missed them. "It doesn't matter," he said and turned to look at his teacher. "Anyway, for now I will teach her only to sense nature's energy, but not draw upon it, not before her chakra control is perfect, maybe not even then. With nature's energy there is the risk that you draw too much of it, and that's not something we want to happen to her."

"What happens if you draw too much, Arashi-san?"

"You mess up the balance of chakra inside you. It needs to be perfect harmony of physical energy, spiritual energy and natural energy. Too much natural energy and it will transform you into a form more suitable of handling it - an animal - and that's not transformation that can be undone."

Konan looked at the blind, pale haired girl who was examining the back of a rough chair by holding her hands some inches over it, like feeling the air around it. "It might be best for now that she merely learns how to sense energies around her," she agreed. "It alone will give her a basis of becoming a great Shinobi."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed, folding his arms. "And Senjutsu is pretty useless on the long run. I need to sit still for a long time to gather natural energy for it, which makes if kinda difficult to use in a battle." And he rather doubted Shiryoku would ever encounter the toads who could help her with that, and as far as he could see, Shiryoku would never have enough chakra to use Kage Bunshin technique in conjunction of Senjutsu like he did.

"Well," she smiled softly. "That might actually be a good thing. We don't want to fight, after all."

Naruto considered it and then nodded in agreement. There was that.

"How did you learn Senjutsu?" Nagato was the only one who asked him that while he and Naruto were debating over whether or not Nagato could connect his Rinnegan to the Rinnegan of his shadow clones and thus gain larger field of vision. "I've never even heard of art like that before now."

"I was trained in it so that I could use it to protect my village," Naruto shrugged and said nothing else on that it was truthful without being too revealing. Naturally, he couldn't say he had learned with the toads. If Nagato and the others would ever meet Jiraiya again, they might ask him and Jiraiya would know that it had never happened. Even if it had. "And it's not really that surprising it's not commonly known. Shinobi tend to be more of noise and action oriented even these days. Sitting down and staying still is more fitting of monks."

"Are you a monk?" Nagato asked, sounding oddly fascinated by the idea. "Or maybe a priest...?"

Naruto gave him an odd look. If it had been anyone else, he would've thought it was a joke. But Nagato didn't really do jokes. "Why do you ask, Nagato-san?" he instead asked, completely baffled. He didn't seem priestly, did he?

"It's just that... there is a prophesy..." Nagato hesitated frowning. "About me, that is. That I'm... I was just thinking, if you were a priest..."

"That I'd know how to help you?" Naruto asked, suddenly realising. It was one thing to hear that there was prophesy about someone there. Another thing to hear that there was prophesy about _you_ yourself. For a moment Naruto wondered how much Jiraiya told - had he included their either destroy or save the world bit - and hesitated. "I don't," he answered honestly. "But if its help you want, I'm definitely gonna try."

That night Naruto meditated and gathered the natural energy required to enter the Sage mode. After that he found a pool of water just little outside the cave and looked down to his reflection. Konan had been right; he didn't look much like a Toad Sage. His eyes were different for one. Instead of the horizontal pupil of the toads, he had vertical slit pupils, and the red over his eyelids extended along the side of his nose, giving his eyes a slanted appearance. Only thing the same there was the colour of his iris, it was still yellow. There was however something new in his Sage mode, in addition to the changes - the whisker marks on his cheek were now red and thicker than normally. They looked almost like tattoos, and not the scars they usually seemed like.

Sage mode took characteristic from the animal you had closest affinity to. Without the summoning contract or the constant companionship of toads, Naruto's affinity was no longer with them. But there was that one animal he couldn't get rid of no matter how he tried, the one he had held inside him for so long that he felt hollow without the constant presence - the one he sometimes even missed a little. He had gotten rid of the Kyuubi inside him, somehow, but it seemed that the exposure would never leave him.

"I guess a fox is always a fox," he murmured and broke the water's surface with his hand, dissolving the image of the Fox Sage he had became.

xx

Sadly, we won't be seeing Jiraiya in a while. Too much to be done in the Land of Rain. But he will swing around eventually.

My apologies for possible grammar errors and such. My excuse is being Finnish and beta-intolerant. If you notice any that bother you, tell me and I will fix them.


	7. Water and wind

**Water and wind  
**

It was somewhat amusing, but Naruto had gone through three sets of different eyes. First, there were his normal eyes, the sky blue eyes of Namikaze Minato. Then there were the Kyuubi's eyes, vivid red with slit pupils. And finally, there were the yellow Sage eyes. He had also been told that during one time he had slit pupils with blue irises and that during the fight with Pain his Kyuubi-eyes and Sage eyes had mixed to form a sort of cross, but he didn't consider them officially "different" sets of eyes. More like mutations. Still, with three sets of eyes, he had been on the bar with Uchiha - though, when he was completely fair, Sharingan wasn't exactly an Uchiha-only trait in his time. Kakashi wasn't an Uchiha. Neither was Danzo. With Sasuke and Madara being the only ones of the Uchiha family left, the family didn't exactly have the monopoly over the eyes.

What was it about eyes that made them so closely connected to Shinobi arts? There was the Sharingan, the Byakugan and finally the Rinnegan, and who knew whatever mutations there were in between. Of course, Rinnegan had been the first and started the whole thing. Naruto didn't know about Byakugan that much, but Sharingan at least had developed from Rinnegan. Maybe Byakugan had as well. It didn't interest Naruto as much as he was interested about the fact that so many of them existed. And Sharingan had two levels too, of four if the undeveloped forms of Sharingan were counted. Why? What so good was there about having jutsu in your _eyes_?

A lot, sadly enough, and superior vision was only one of them. Rinnegan seemed to be only limited by its user while Sharingan could be by all appearances developed endlessly - and Byakugan had only one tiny blind spot which was so small most people knew nothing about it. With the advantages the eyes could give, it was no wonder people wanted them so much and hallowed them as highly as they did.

It was no wonder that their users seemed to be all a little nuts, though. Hyuuga clan turned over half of its own family into slaves. Uchiha ended up self destructing. And though the first Rinnegan user had been shining example to all Shinobi in the world, the second… not so much.

Though the eyes were no doubt useful, Naruto was glad the best he could do was Sage eyes - with which he could only see a little further and his vision was little sharper than normally, but nothing else. Being able to copy Ninjutsu of others was cheating and the whole space-distortion thing that Mangekyo did went way past his comprehension. Byakugan would've been cool, but the whole main family and branch family thing was just evil. And Rinnegan seemed like way too much trouble to even consider. No, he'd rather stick to normal eyes.

The whole thing did make him wonder about how Nagato had inherited the Rinnegan. There was only one person in the world who had had it before, and everyone knew what his children had become. Uchiha clan and the Senju Clan. Nagato was either from one of those clans without knowing, maybe a descendant of some member that had left, or the Sage of the Six Paths had had a third child. Or the Sage himself reborn, though considering the fact that Nagato himself admitted being weaker than the Sage even at the peak of his power, that was unlikely.

It didn't really matter _how_ Nagato had gotten the eyes. He had them, and that was it. What mattered was what he would do with them. In the future, so many things had gone wrong and Nagato himself had gone so wrong in return, but now…now, maybe things could go a little differently. With Konan's soothing wisdom and Yahiko's ceaseless optimism to guide him, he might turn alright. And, if things would follow the same lines as they had in Naruto's past and Nagato and Konan - and Yahiko too as he was alive this time around - would gain control of the Village Hidden in Rain… he might even turn into the saviour he was meant to be.

But that didn't mean that it was safe to leave him by himself. No. Nagato was sensitive and could be broken so easily. He needed to be watched for. Naruto sighed, rubbing his hands over his own eyes - so poor in comparison to the Rinnegan. What use was there of such special pair of eyes when the ones in possession of them needed to be lead by the half blind?

It would've been foolish to think that Hanzo would give up after the plan to kill Yahiko had failed. The gang certainly hadn't lowered their guard since; it had apparently been tripled since Naruto had joined them. Naruto himself had been distracted by his students and had almost forgotten it - he had gotten used to enemies which had so many enemies themselves that they weren't at his throat at every opportunity. Madara had been threatening, but he had managed to antagonise the entire planet, so even if Naruto had been one of the last two Jinchuuriki at the time, Madara had been often times too busy with the rest of the world, giving him chance to plot and prepare.

Hanzo, though busy leading the Hidden Rain, didn't have _that_ many concerns. They knew that the only reason the man hadn't chased them right back to the hideout was because Naruto had probably broken good handful of his ribs and probably done some damage on the inside as well. Rasengan wasn't a gentle attack after all, and most of the damage it did happened not in the point of contact, but little past it. On the outside it might make a bruise whilst on the inside it shredded everything. But Hanzo was too tough a Shinobi to die to the attack - it had been a weak as far as Naruto's many Rasengan-based attacks went - and it was only matter of time before he would come again.

Yahiko, Nagato and Konan had prepared for it. Their hideout had before had four different escape routes - in waiting, they had made three more. They had also devised evacuation plans, making so many strategies that gave it Naruto a headache, all in order to escape as fast as possible with minimal contact. All the members of their group had been drilled in the plans, and should the alarm call, everyone would know what to do - they'd probably know it even if they were half asleep.

Naruto himself wasn't in the plans, of course, neither were the three leaders. Because whilst everyone escaped, the four of them would face Hanzo or whoever was attacking in order to give the others as much time as possible. But despite not having part in the evacuation as it was, he still had been affected by all this preparation, and soon made it a habit of having a two clones in state of meditation at all times on top of having a clone training with Shiryoku on the matter. If the attack would come, he would probably need all the advantage he would get, and Senjutsu was the best he had now. And considering that Hanzo was known for summoning and none of them had summons at their disposal, they would need something that could take out something bigger. Yahiko, Nagato and Konan were all good and three against one match against Hanzo they might even manage, but throw in army and some giant salamanders and it was a whole another thing.

"I've seen a Shinobi village in state of alarm once," Naruto mused to Yahiko once while they watched the youngest of the members go over the motions of stage one evacuation. "They executed their emergency plan pretty swiftly; the civilians and ninja cadets were all evacuated quickly and neatly. But you make them look like punch of snails, Yahiko-san."

"Shinobi villages have more people to distract the attackers," Yahiko murmured. "We don't have that luxury."

"If we have to evacuate, where will we go?" Naruto asked curiously.

"This place isn't the only hideout we have - we were going to move further south once the winter came anyway," Yahiko answered. "The gang we have here isn't all of us anyway. We have more people living in the other hideouts - can't be leaving them empty and unguarded after all."

Naruto could only imagine what kind of Kage Yahiko could make. The rough circumstances had raised him quickly to meet the challenge of their hard situation, it seemed. At age of nineteen, he was already better than most leaders Naruto had ever encountered. Few more years and he'd be even greater, even better, even smarter. Only thing left to do was to make sure he stayed alive until then.

All the protective measures put in place in the hideout seemed overly complicated at times, but Naruto had to admit that each and every one of them was as important as a sack full of gold and precious jutsu, when Hanzo finally came knocking.

**x  
**

The evacuation was in full swing by the time Naruto made his way up to the surface with the three leaders. It was pouring once more, but he wasn't particularly surprised by that. He had yet to see a single sunny day in Rain, and had gotten adjusted to the idea that there simply was none. Hanzo and his people seemed to be used to it as well, as they stood outside the rock formation that formed a shield over the hide out entrance.

"How did he find us?" Konan asked quietly.

"Probably by having his people look for us. Anyone of them might've noticed one of the members when they were out getting food or water or whatever," Yahiko answered while behind them Naruto pulled his fox mask on. "Arashi-san, could you check how many people are there?"

"Right," Naruto nodded and lifted his hands to the dispelling seal. One of the two clones he had dispersed in the caves below, and the nature's energy surged at him. It took only instant to accommodate to it, and shift to the Sage mode. In explosion of awareness, his senses spread until he could feel the people below, the fish in the lake that arched almost around the hideout, and the people and summons Hanzo had with him. "Twenty eight people above surface including Hanzo and three summons; all salamanders, two of which are large and one is small. There are extra thirty people in the lake, though. Also, twenty of the people above surface are from Leaf and not Rain." Danzo and his people hadn't left yet, it seemed.

"Naturally," Yahiko murmured and frowned before glancing at the others. "We seem to be quite out numbered. Any suggestions?"

"I could take out the people hiding in the lake with a Raiton based attack," Nagato offered quietly. "The lake is so big it wouldn't kill them, but it might knock them unconscious. They should be using breathing apparatus, so they would be able to survive."

"That's good. Konan?" Yahiko asked.

"I should be able to take out at least handful out with my paper without harming them," Konan agreed. "And if necessary, I should be able to use my paper to strip some of our enemies of their gear and weapons."

Yahiko nodded, satisfied. "I'll be able to distract a few with my Suiton attacks, but Hanzo is a different thing. What will we do about the summons?"

"I can deal with those," Naruto answered. "In my Sage mode I'm strong enough to take out a summon and send them back to their place of origin without damaging them too much. I can't use Kage Bunshin as massively as I usually do, though, so don't count on that. I won't be able to use it to distract them - and the Kage Bunshin I make I need to make attacks."

"Alright, that works," Yahiko nodded. "They're expecting us. We might not have the element of surprise on our side, but we have something better. Most of those guys are here because they're ordered, because they get paid, we're here to protect our people. Keep that in mind. And whatever you do, don't go near the lake. We're no match for Hanzo's speed there. Now, let's go and see if we can talk them out of this."

"Right," Nagato and Konan agreed and the three of them walked forward, Naruto, after pushing his umbrella open, following them. Unlike most of the gang, he still didn't particularly like it when it rained on him.

"What a surprise! What are you doing here, Hanzo-san?" Yahiko asked once they were at hearing distance. "You should've sent a word ahead; I would've put the tea on."

"I want to talk to the Fox Sage," the leader of Village Hidden in Rain said without acknowledging Yahiko's words. He was standing on top of a large salamander, with a smaller one resting on his shoulders.

"Then talk," Naruto answered while Nagato and Konan shifted aside a little to give him clear view of their opponent. He absently twisted the umbrella in his hands and pulled his water-proof cloak a little tighter on. It was freezing. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Privately," Hanzo demanded.

"No thank you, that's not gonna happen," Naruto grinned mirthlessly behind his mask. "Not when you have all the reason to stick a kunai between my ribs. How're yours doing, by the way?"

"Healed," Hanzo answered, narrowing his odd eyes. The usually white part of his eyes was completely black. On the scale of one to ten, his eyes were on the nine in the freaky-meter. "That attack you used was quite powerful, to pierce through my armour like that. What is it called?"

Naruto smiled. "I don't think you called me out specifically to talk about my little attack, Hanzo-san. What do you want?"

"I wanted to see for myself if you really were a Sage, if you really had unravelled the secrets of Senjutsu," Hanzo answered, touching the lizard on his shoulder. Only then Naruto noticed that the little salamander had been talking with the man - and that the lizard was quite old. "I've only met one man like you before, and he wasn't particularly forthcoming about the talent."

"Yeah, Jiraiya-san can be like that," Naruto nodded with amusement, imagining the scene in his head. According to what he had heard, Jiraiya had never been quite comfortable with his Sage form, as it had been imperfect and quite toad-like. For someone like Jiraiya, to whom appearance was rather important, that could be something of an embarrassment. "What about it?"

"Join me. I will pay you handsomely if you teach me to master Senjutsu."

Naruto laughed, loud and sudden. It wasn't just the notion that he'd just leave the gang, or that he'd do it for _money_ that seemed so hilarious, but the fact that Hanzo thought he _could_ learn Senjutsu. While learning it himself, Naruto had found that it took a certain sort of mentality to manage it. Being just still wasn't enough, meditation alone didn't cut it. Person like Hanzo and pretty much ninety nine percent of all Shinobi could never manage it. The simple reason was that to manage Senjutsu, the user had to accept few things.

First, that they were small and insignificant and in large scheme of things they were only a crumb of existence, fleeting and soon forgotten. Second, that they would die, could die and that it was right for that to happen at any time and at any way. Third, they couldn't fear change - Jiraiya had failed to achieve perfect Sage form because he had been terrified of turning into a toad, Naruto on other hand willingly jumped into pond of frog oil, repeatedly. Fourth, that they would never ever _master_ nature's energy. It would always, _always_ master them. Nature's energy wasn't a force to be commanded. It was a force to be accepted. And most of all they needed to have _respect_. Lot of it.

It was why he doubted Shiryoku would ever have a Sage form. Ever since her handicapping accident, she had been scared of being weak and helpless and dying alone. With that to hinder her, she wouldn't even be able to achieve incomplete Sage form. People like Hanzo, on other hand… Hanzo had tried to assassinate group leader striving for peace because he was scared of being overthrown. That alone made him utterly and completely ill-fitting. And the amount of paranoia the man had was a clear sign of how terrified he was of dying.

"It's not quite easy as that, Hanzo-san," Naruto finally said after managing to control his amusement. "You have to _die_ to become a Sage. I don't think you're willing to do that."

"To die?" Hanzo looked startled. "Then a Sage is _immortal_?"

Naruto snorted. What was it with Shinobi and immortality? "Not in the slightest. A Sage is the most mortal man in the world - the one who as accepted his death and will face it with a smile. For someone like you, that would be completely impossible." In hindsight - or maybe foresight - he suddenly knew that his father would've made one hell of a Sage. "I would never teach Senjutsu to someone like you for the simple reason that no matter how you'd try, you'd never be able to do it. You fear too much."

"Now that you have your answer," Yahiko cut in. "Could you please leave? We have more important things to do around here than to talk about obscure branches of Shinobi arts."

"No, I don't think so," Hanzo answered. "Most mortal man on earth, is it? Well then, Fox Sage, let's put that to the test. Kill them!" he called to his people. "The one who brings me the Fox Sage's head will get a hefty reward!"

Leaving his umbrella behind, Naruto shot forward, two Kage Bunshin at each side. He held out his hands towards them with chakra spewing out of his palms for them to mould. Behind him he could hear Yahiko yelling out a Water Release jutsu while Nagato's lightning attack was already making the lake beside them shudder with sparks, and as Naruto reached first of Hanzo's two larger summons, he could hear the whirring of Konan's paper, flying past him. What ever Hanzo had expected, the ease with which Naruto dealt with the two summons wasn't it - but then, the Rasengan Naruto had used on him had been weak. Senpou Oodama Rasengan was in quite different league, and the summons had no chance against when they decided not to try and run from it.

It was a chaotic fight from the very start. Whatever plans Hanzo had made, the seamless teamwork from the three gang leaders ruined it in an instant. Nagato's lightning sparkled along Yahiko's water dragon and Konan's paper was shot forward at even higher speed by a wind jutsu from Nagato. Naruto himself, so aware of everything thanks to his Senjutsu, easily worked around and through their team work, adding his own skills to the mix. He didn't have any jutsu for restraining like Konan who used her paper to wrap around people and make them unable to move, nor did he have anything to knock people out like Nagato's many lightning skills, but he had power and enough will to use it.

Within ten minutes, they had cut the group into half, with the other half either unconscious or unable to fight. The rest, better than those who had fallen, fought back with earnest and were harder to take down. And among them there was Hanzo who, unlike during their first encounter when Naruto had managed to take him by surprise, was alert and quite willing to pay back in kind, and Danzo, who probably was feeling the sting of having Naruto sneak into he country among his people without his notice. Both of them aimed their attention at him.

It was only the nature's energy, pushing at his limits, that made him able to keep up. He could easily see why Hanzo had been so widely respected and feared - the man was incredibly strong. Not in the same level as Pain or Madara, but incredibly powerful none the less. Danzo wasn't quite Hanzo's level, but where Danzo lost in strength, he gained in intelligence. While Hanzo pushed at Naruto with Suiton jutsu after another, water attacks cutting against Naruto's defences, Danzo's own Raiton attacks complimented them and made them even stronger. Like Nagato and Yahiko, the two of them used water and lightning masterfully together.

But Naruto wasn't only a Sage. He was also a Wind Release adept. "Fuuton, Kazekiri no jutsu!" he called, shooting out his palm and curt apart the lightning encrusted water whip coming at him. The wind continued past the ruined attack and Hanzo and Danzo quickly jumped away.

"Fuuton, huh?" Danzo murmured, flashing through hand seals. "Katon, Gouryuuka no Jutsu!" he called out, sending a barrage of fiery dragons at Naruto, while beside him Hanzo also completed an array of hand seals. "Fuuton, Reppuushou!" the long haired man yelled out while sending the wind at the dragons, and suddenly the fire attack was coming at Naruto a whole lot faster.

"Shit," Naruto hissed, jumping back while running through hand seals. "Fuuton, Arashi no Yaiba!" he called, his own version of normal blade of wind attack. It sent out a cluster of wind blades aimed at the dragons and trying to cut them to pieces. Wind attacks were, however, more or less useless against fire attacks - especially one powered by wind attacks. The blades only managed to slow the attacks down, and then Naruto had to run as they reached him. They only missed by a hair's width before plummeting to the ground like fiery boulders.

"Arashi-san!" Nagato called somewhere near by. "Your back!"

Naruto cursed, ripping off the burning cloak and jumper and throwing them into the ground. "I could use water right about now, Nagato-san!" he called back to the Rinnegan user.

Nagato was quick to answer. The lake's surface was disturbed as several tentacle-like formations shot out, and headed for Danzo and Hanzo. Naruto grinned grimly and performed hand seals hurriedly. Then he drew a deep breath. "Fuuton, Hokufuu no jutsu!" he called and blew out the attack just when the water hit the ground and splashed all around. The wind that came from his lips froze his own skin as it rushed forward, freezing the rain on its way and then hitting the water of Nagato's attack. The tentacles of water turned into tentacles of ice and what ever water had fallen to the ground was immediately frozen over.

"Great, Arashi-san!" He could hear Yahiko call. "Hey, freeze this too! Suiton, Lekuu no Jutsu!"

Naruto did as asked and when the watery projectiles of Yahiko's attack had been shot out, he blasted another icy wind after them. As the remaining enemy Shinobi hurried back to get away from the attack, Naruto felt a moment of disorientation and then weakness. His Sage form had released.

Hurriedly, he jumped back to where the others were. "I'm out of the Sage mode," he said to them. "I still have one clone on standby but after that it'll be it."

"The evacuation?" Yahiko asked.

Naruto hadn't really been concentrating onto that but he still knew the answer. "Almost over," he nodded and hurriedly created a handful of clones when few of the more daring Leaf-Nin made a rush at them. He was very thankful of the weapons the gang had supplied him with as the clones fought to hold most of the attackers off. "The rest should be gone within five minutes."

"Let's give them fifteen," Yahiko answered and took out fresh pair of kunai when they head Hanzo was preparing another attack "Dispel your clone, and let's continue this fight."

"Right," Naruto nodded, frowning as the lake beside them rippled and then the water began to rise in monstrous wave. Cursing under his breath, he followed the three others to the rock formations to get away from the tidal wave and brought his hands together. "Kai!" Nature's energy rushed to him again and with fleeting sense of peace, he was back in his fox-like Sage form, its marks hidden under his mask. Then the fight was on again.

Of Hanzo and Danzo's roughly sixty people eight were still standing by the time the fight ended. Miraculously enough, not a single person was dead or even badly wounded. Majority of them were floating in the lake, unconscious, some had been trapped by Konan's paper jutsu, some others had been shocked by Yahiko and Nagato's water-lightning combination, and some had been frozen by Nagato and Naruto's water-wind combination. The rest had been knocked unconscious or disoriented by other attacks. The eight still standing were tired, and wet, and easy preys for Naruto's icy winds or Nagato's lightning should they come close enough. Hanzo seemed to be the only one still going strong, even Danzo was catching his breath.

Though of course, the gang's side was more or less out of breath too. Yahiko had a cut on his upper arm and was limping slightly, Konan was barely able to keep controlling her paper attacks due to the lack of chakra. Nagato wasn't tired, which was unsurprising, he was a Rinnegan user after all. Naruto, however, was feeling the lack of the Kyuubi's chakra loud and clear - and he had run out of nature's energy as well.

"It's no wonder you have found such a following," Hanzo said as they all caught their breaths. He brought his hands together and clapped slowly at them. "I haven't had a fight like this since I fought the Three Legendary Ninja! It's a pity that you are so set on your ways of foolish ideology. I would not mind having Shinobi like you at my disposal."

"You tried to kill us - that doesn't exactly make us willing to side with you!" Yahiko spat while straightening his back. "You're part of the reason why this country is in this state of ruin anyway! It's one thing to have country ravaged by war, another to keep it from replenishing by closing the borders for no good reason! Because of you, we can't even _rebuild_ after what the war's done to us!"

"You would have us invite our neighbours to have another fight on our lands? I think not!" Hanzo snorted "The only reason this ceasefire has lasted so long is because they cannot easily get at each other anymore! The borders are keeping the peace!"

Yahiko snorted. "Like your little walls would stop them for long," he said. "The war will eventually end, will you keep the borders shut even then and have our country starve?"

Naruto frowned as they argued. If was odd point to realise that he had no idea what had caused the Second Great Shinobi war in the first place. He didn't know what had ended it for that matter, or when it would happen. He almost groaned out loud, suddenly wishing that he had paid some attention in the history lessons back at the Academy. It would've helped them along a whole lot if he had some knowledge about the upcoming events.

"We need to get out of here," Konan said to Nagato somewhere behind Naruto. "We can't keep going on like this. Hanzo is too strong, we'll lose eventually. We need to retreat."

"We need a diversion," Nagato agreed.

"Nagato-san, Konan-san, did you know that when you freeze moist paper, it turns pretty hard?" Naruto asked in low tone, without looking at them. Yahiko's and Hanzo's argument was thankfully drowning out any other noise. "Konan-san, do you think you could make enough to create a paper wall between us and them?" He thought back to the paper tree Konan had made to shelter Nagato in the future.

"…I can try," she answered a bit dubiously. "But I'm almost out of chakra."

"You can do it," Nagato answered encouragingly.

Even Yahiko didn't notice what they were doing before in long stripes of paper, Konan's attach rushed past him. While their enemy jumped back to avoid being hit, Nagato flashed through the seals and sent a shower of water after the paper, soaking it through. Naruto jumped a little forward to avoid hitting Yahiko and used the last of his strength on the North Wind attack, directing where the wind blew carefully and only freezing the paper where it had already formed to the wall and then following the paper construction where it was completed. In few seconds the wall was ready, long, tall and surprisingly thick considering it was made of frozen paper.

"What the…" Yahiko blinked.

"Distraction! Come on, Yahiko, we need to run!" Konan yelled in answer and together they fled once more.

As he grabbed his discarded umbrella, Naruto thought he could hear Hanzo clapping behind them once more. But then again, for a battle where they had had a fifteen to one disadvantage, they had done damn well.

xx

I think that was one of the best battles I've ever written. Dunno what that says about my battle-writing abilities.

My apologies for possible grammar errors and such. My excuse is being Finnish and beta-intolerant. If you notice any that bother you, tell me and I will fix them.


	8. Unknown World

**Unknown world  
**

Naruto stared at the surface of one of the many dining tables in Yahiko's gang's second hideout. Unlike the first one, this one was an old house hidden among cliffs and not a cave. It wasn't as big as the previous hideout and it was a stretch to accommodate all twenty four members plus the seven that had already been in the hideout, but it was in a way more comfortable than the caves. It was warmer if nothing else - and after four hours of running through cold rain in nothing but a mesh shirt over his upper body, he had healthy appreciation for warmth.

He felt oddly useless. They had come out of the fight all right, all the gang members had escaped safely and they had managed to hold on during the fight without killing anyone. It was one hell of an achievement, but he felt weak. Sure, he had managed to disperse Hanzo's summons, but he had a feeling that was more due to luck and benefit of surprise, than skill. Normally mere Ninjutsu wasn't good enough to deal with a summon - usually you needed another summon. If Hanzo would come at them again, the man wouldn't let Naruto use Oodama Rasengan on the salamanders again. And Naruto knew more than well enough that the only reason they had been able to manage so well in the first place because Hanzo had wanted to talk before fighting. If the man had just attacked without a word, they would've been in trouble. Or if the man had gone after the evacuees…

So many things could've gone wrong. Usually he didn't bother with hindsight, but this time he couldn't avoid it. With something so valuable on the line, the obvious flaw in his arsenal was weighing on him heavily. He needed ensure Nagato's innocence and that happened by making sure Yahiko and Konan remained alive - and then there were his students and the other gang members and their goals to consider - and he couldn't do any of those things when he was so goddamned weak.

"Arashi-sensei," he heard Yoaruki calling him as the eight year old boy limped towards him, leaning heavily to his crutches. Shiryoku was with him, holding onto his sleeve for guidance. She was holding something under her arm. "We found this in the attic. We thought we could make you a cloak out of this - since your cloak and jacket burned… what do you think?"

Naruto blinked with surprise while blind Shiryoku shyly presented the cloth. "For me? Really?" He asked, reaching to examine the cloth. It was the same water proof fabric most of clothes around there were made off - except, unlike most of their gang's cloaks, this fabric was bright orange. "This is brilliant, you two, but you don't need to do this for me. There are plenty of extra cloaks around, I can just wear one of those…"

"We want to," Shiryoku answered, bowing her head and awkwardly brushing her pale hair down to hide the burn scars around her eyes. "You've taught so much to us already, and you fought so that we could evacuate safely…" she trailed away, and had she been able to see, she would've been staring at her feet.

Naruto smiled sadly. Yoaruki and Shiryoku had been the slowest of the evacuees - he and the three leaders had caught up with them and the two other gang members who had been carrying them after only five minutes of running. Naruto had taken his students from the others, having a clone carry Shiryoku and carrying older Yoaruki himself. Once in the next hideout, he had gone his way also to make sure that the two had places to rest and that they got to change their wet clothes.

"Well, if you feel like you must," he said, placing one hand over Yoaruki's hand which was grasping the crutch and reaching out to take Shiryoku's hand with his other. "I'd be happy to wear a cloak made by you two. But you can sew, right?"

The two started slightly and blushed. "We were going to ask someone to help us," Yoaruki said embarrassedly.

Naruto laughed. "How about I help you?" he answered. "I know a think or two about sewing."

But even that distraction didn't take his mind completely off the problem. He felt the absence of summons stronger than ever, and knew that the more serious things would get, the harder it would become to circumvent around the lack. And it wasn't only Hanzo he had to worry about, or Danzo. There was Madara too, one day, and there was Itachi as well, whom he would need to take care of one day one way or another. Those two were both rather Hidden Leaf-oriented issues, and if he would ever wish to go to leaf and survive to tell the tale, he'd need more than Fuuton and Senjutsu. He needed a summoning contract.

While he and Yoaruki, with Shiryoku's eager though rather useless help, used the forms of the usual cloaks used by the gang to cut the orange fabric, he kept wondering about summoning. How did people get summoning contracts in the first place? Jiraiya had taken the journey to Myoubokuzan by foot and had eventually bee gifted by the contract by the toads, that much he knew. He didn't know how Tsunade had gotten her contract, or how Orochimaru had gotten his. Kakashi, as far as he knew, had raised his summon dogs himself, but… Naruto didn't have the time for that.

The cloak came out surprisingly good despite his distraction. It had high collar and wide sleeves like all the rest of the gang's cloaks, and a hem which reached midway of Naruto's calves and which would take some adjusting to. Since the length made it impossible to have a thigh-holster for kunai, he ended up getting one of the utility belts used by the others, which was wide and covered most of his belly. "This is cloak is pretty warm," he mused while adjusting the heavy belt. He admired the result in a mirror and grinned. "Thanks, you two."

Shiryoku and Yoaruki grinned happily and Naruto smiled to them while wondering if the three gang leaders would know anything about summoning contracts.

x

"As far as I've heard, most of the great animal races live in the uncharted territories past the Earth and Wind countries." It wasn't none of the three gang leaders that answered Naruto's question, but one of the other gang members, Haruka, who had been an official Rain ninja before joining Yahiko's gang. "That's where Hanzo travelled when he was younger and came back with the salamander contract, or so I've heard. I think the third Hokage also got his famed monkey summon contract from somewhere in there."

From Hidden Leaf, it would take a month to get there. But Naruto was much closer, so it shouldn't take as long as that. Maybe three weeks, maybe even less. In his mind, Naruto tried to calculate of whether or not it would be worth it to try. Three weeks in one direction, that meant six weeks on the journey. And however long it would take to find an animal race willing to align with him…

"Thinking of trying to get a contract?" Yahiko asked. "As far as I see, most people who take that journey end up never coming back."

"Yeah, probably," Naruto murmured, thinking some of the summons he had seen. The snakes for one probably wouldn't much like to see humans in their territories. "But it would be useful. There are lot of summoners in Shinobi world, people like Hanzo… and sometimes only way to fight against summoner is by summons."

"I can't say it wouldn't be useful to have a summoner in our group," Yahiko murmured while sitting down beside him. "Not only for defensive reasons but when we move or have evacuate it would be useful to have a large animal to carry those who can't go that fast. I think more people would join us too if they'd hear we have summons…"

Naruto nodded. The main reason why Yahiko's group, though famous for their goals and views, was still so small was because people knew. Against the Village Hidden in Rain and all its forces, they were weak. And in a land ravaged by so many wars, people knew better than to take the side of the weaker party. "You wouldn't mind if I went?" he asked, turning to the orange haired ninja. "You don't need me here?" It didn't feel right even thinking about going. He needed to stay and protect Nagato and his friends. But… he would be able to do it better if he had summons.

Yahiko laughed. "We managed just well before you came along, I think we can manage from here on too," he said and grinned. "Way to go thinking the world revolves around you, Arashi-san. Just because Hanzo was so interested about you, doesn't mean that you're the king of the hill now."

Naruto smiled faintly. "No, that's you," he answered. It was difficult, knowing how frail the situation truly was. Yahiko didn't know the dangers that surrounded them, and how little at this point it would take to tip Nagato from non-violent peace into… well, very violent peace. And Naruto couldn't say anything without sounding like a prophet or insane man, and he wasn't particularly fond of the idea of becoming either.

"You promise you'll all be here when I come back?" Naruto asked quietly. "_All_ of you?"

Yahiko gave him a look and then smiled sadly. "I don't know what happened to your village, Arashi-san. But trust me, _we're_ not going anywhere." He patted Naruto's shoulders awkwardly and grinned. "We're all gonna be right here to see your kick-ass new summons when you come back."

Naruto searched the other's eyes for a moment before sighing and nodding. It was as good as it would get, he supposed. "Thanks," he said.

Nagato and Konan were supportive of him going as well, promising to take care of each other just as long as he'd come back eventually. Naruto had a feeling they all thought he was a survivor of some sort of horrible holocaust and that he had some sort of trauma about losing people, but as long as they promised, he didn't mind them drawing their own conclusions of his actions. The more they assumed about his past, the less he had to lie about, really.

Yoaruki and Shiryoku weren't as accepting about him going - they even asked to come with him so that he could keep on teaching them. "They're making better prosthetics for me," Yoaruki said, holding onto Naruto's sleeve for balance. "They're gonna be lighter and will fit me better and I'll be able to walk better. You can teach me how to fight!"

"I'm sorry, I can't take you two with me. It'll be too dangerous," Naruto said, crouching down to the level of his two students. "This is something I have to do for the safety of the gang. I'll be back," he promised, ruffling Yoaruki's short black hair and squeezing Shiryoku's hand. "So keep on practicing what I've taught you so far and I'll teach you guys something new when I get back."

"Yeah, but what about we know all that stuff through and through," Shiryoku asked, clutching onto his hand tightly. "I… I already can sense nature's energy around me a little, and… and you said it's dangerous. What if I do that dangerous stuff, what if I can't stop? No one here will be able help me!"

Naruto chuckled, reaching to brush her hair from her burned face. "You can barely use normal chakra at this point, I don't think you will accidentally draw on nature's energy," he said, making her pout. "I'm sure you will be alright. Just do what you've been doing so far and feel, and nothing else."

"I don't want you to go, sensei," she whispered. "Aside from Konan-san, you're only one who has bothered helping me…"

"I'm sure they will help you from now on. And you don't even need help anymore, you can do everything by yourself, now. Right?" Naruto asked and smiled. "I'm sure you'll be fine. Both of you," he turned to Yoaruki who was frowning at the floor. "I know you're strong. So be strong for me."

They pouted and didn't seem happy about it, but they nodded. He kissed Shiryoku's forehead and ruffled Yoaruki's hair, before standing up. They didn't try to stop him again, and later that night he packed his bag, got his umbrella and after fastening his fox mask on, he headed out of the hideout and then to west - and hopefully, towards a new summoning contract.

x

It was much easier to get out of the Country of Rain than it had been to get into it. But then again, the country had no reason to keep its people from running away - if anything, it had all the reason to encourage it. Of course, it wasn't exactly _effortless_ to get out; the gates weren't wide open and he wasn't bowed out. But he still managed to get out after mere hour of figuring out the watch pattern and then jumping over the wall when he found the perfect gap. If his retreat was seen by the guards, they did nothing about it and easy as that he was out of Land of Rain and in the Land of Mountains, the last of the two countries standing between Lands of Wind and Earth.

Unlike Land of Rain, Land of Mountains lived with ease and had never served as the battle ground for the greater nations. The reason for that was simple difficulty of terrain - like its name said, the entire country was nothing but mountains, each of them trying their best to reach the skies and beat each other in height. The villages and towns in the land were few and far apart and it took long while to travel between them along the rocky mountain trails and the rare, flimsy extension bridges erected here and there. If Hidden Rock would want to attack Hidden Sand through the Land of Mountains, they'd spend two weeks on foot in the mountainside and probably get lost somewhere along the way.

Thankfully Naruto had had visited mountainsides before and knew just enough to manage travelling in the difficult terrain. It helped that the people of the difficult country had marked the paths and erected signs pretty much everywhere to guide lost travellers towards nearest villages. Following the signs he walked, climbed and balanced around the difficult paths, thankful of the new cloak which saved him from the cool mountain breeze.

If the situation had been any other, he might've taken his time in the mountains, actually. They were difficult, but what they lost there, they gained in sheer beauty. Each morning the rising sunlight painted the mountains one by one with golden rays and each evening the sky in the distance would turn orange or red and one by one the snowy peaks turned pink before fading out like god's lanterns in the distance. For someone who had grown in a forest, the magnificence of mountains was something mysterious.

But he didn't have the time for that, and he spent every single daylight second travelling, and even then continuing little further in the light of his lantern. The land of mountains was longer from east to west than it was from south to north, and he wasn't about to clear the distance in two weeks unless he spend every possible moment on foot. He didn't even stay in the towns or villages for longer than to re-supply and maybe have a bowl of ramen if he encountered a right restaurant, but that was it.

It was so different from the way of travelling he was used to. With Jiraiya, there had never really been hurry anywhere. Even when they had been looking for Tsunade, they had taken their time and never even once had they actually _ran_ on their way. It had been like that during the three years of travelling with the man as well - and sometimes they hadn't been travelling at all, but stayed in one village or town of encampment for weeks at a time. It had been rather idle form of travelling - but then, they hadn't really been _going_ anywhere. They had been simply travelling, aimlessly and without a plan. Aside from when Jiraiya wanted to see some of his contacts of the Hidden Leaf's spy network, that was.

He didn't really consider the running from a mission or to one travelling. When he had been running to save Gaara or to catch Akatsuki spy or try and find Sasuke, it was always done with extreme haste and not exactly enjoyable.

While he was heading further to west, and the villages and towns he encountered grew rarer and rarer, he wondered how he would continue once he was out of the Mountain Country. The territories beyond the country's borders were mostly uncharted - either because there were beasts there that you needed to be a high level Shinobi to beat, or they were under so many illusions that charting them was just impossible. The animals of uncharted territories were known for their ability with Shinobi arts, after all - and they rarely wanted visitors as far as Naruto knew. Myoubokuzan for one was under no less than dozen illusions and in such difficult place that even without the illusions it was hard to get. It had been a shock for the toads when Jiraiya had found the place in his youth. They had thought it impossible for humans to find the place before then.

That, and the fact that Naruto had no idea what he was looking for, would make things difficult. He didn't know where to go and he also didn't have the time to just go around hoping he'd run into something useful. He needed a plan, something to help him along… but with so many variables, plan was hard to come up with. The terrain of uncharted territories was known for being difficult and slightly illogical - the gigantism of Myoubokuzan wasn't rare in those parts. On top of that, there were the beasts, the illusions, the intentionally difficult and confusing paths… the place was made to drive travellers to their deaths. It was hard to prepare for that no matter how he tried.

And so Naruto reached the uncharted territories without any knowledge of where to go or how to go about looking for the animal races.

x

After a week in the uncharted territories, Naruto could happily say that he hadn't seen so many wonderful things. He had seen a caterpillar bigger than his arm, a butterfly big enough to take out his head, he had sheltered from rain under a vividly coloured hare bell and watched a formation of enormous birds heading towards south, running away from the upcoming winter. He had fought with a rat as big as him over a fruit tree and then ran when he had realised that the rat had been only a kid and the mommy was a lot bigger. He had tried fishing at one stream only to find that the fish all could eat him, not the other way around, and decided to become momentarily a vegetarian. That had been rather difficult decision to keep, though, when he had almost ended up being eaten by Venus fly trap as big as his entire apartment building.

He could also not so happily say that he was completely lost. And the passing mists and clouds and the fact that sunlight tended to be oddly distorted here and there made it hard to even finding a direction not to mention about navigating. Even stars weren't the same in the uncharted territories - though that was probably because he was seeing them through layers and layers of illusions. Who ever had designed the place, if it even had been designed, had clearly intended no one to ever find their way out.

Not that Naruto was worried about that. He could survive and he knew that by sheer stubbornness alone he would find his way out eventually - he could send out his clones to scout ahead and back and sides to find the best routes after all. The problem wasn't that he wanted to get out, but that he wanted to get out of them areas between illusions and _into_ the Genjutsu protected areas. Those were where the intelligent animals lived.

But he was neither a Genjutsu master nor particularly adept with them. Senjutsu only told him when he was in a Genjutsu or in that annoying line between Genjutsu barriers which was still clear but just distorted enough for nothing to make sense, but that was it. Senjutsu also wasn't helping him find anyone - animals could be found by the feel of their chakra, sure. But animal chakra blended into the nature around them so well that even for perfect Sage like Naruto that was difficult to figure out. And even then he couldn't tell the difference between intelligent and non-intelligent animals and instead of finding anyone helpful, he ended up finding gigantic worms and bees and few flies big enough to suck all his blood out in one try.

So, he just wandered around, hoping to find someone, anyone to help him. Maybe a small toad or a slug or even a monkey like those Third Hokage had been known for using. Or some of the animal races Pain had commanded. Or… or just anyone able and willing to talk and help him find something useful.

He wasn't quite expecting the one he _did_ eventually find, though, truthfully he didn't find anyone. It was more of matter of them finding him while he was resting in a crook of enormous tree, regaining strength after entire day of travelling.

He was woken by a hot breath pushing over him so hard that he nearly fell. His reflexes saved him before his instincts kicked in and he froze completely like prey under the stare of a large predator. And he was under the stare of a large predator. A _very_ large predator. He only dared to look at the creature watching him from the corner of his eye and what he saw made him grow even further still and stop breathing. If he had been able to stop his heart from making a racked, he would've even at the risk of death.

There was a dragon standing beside the tree, long enough to wrap around the tree's house-sized trunk and crush it into splinters. Its eyes, as big as a medium sized toad, were staring down on him intently, long tendril like whiskers idly whipping about Naruto as if to try and touch him.

"Human," the dragon rumbled, the voice making the tree leaves rustle loudly in objection. The dragon's breath smelled of cinders and burning stone. "Are you lost?"

Naruto's breathing returned to its usual rhythm with a loud, embarrassing hitch. "I-I'm not. I c-came here willingly… I'm looking f-for a race w-who would - could become m-my summons," he stuttered awkwardly, feeling like this was the one point in his life where he had to be very, very truthful.

"A summoning contract?" the dragon rumbled thoughtfully, the sound nearly throwing Naruto off balance. The dragon shifted and the earth groaned under its weight while it sat back to its haunches. Distantly Naruto noticed that the dragon had no accessories or clothes like some of the toads did. But then, it was a dragon. It probably didn't need them. "A summon to fight for you, is it? To be your tool?"

"To fight with me," Naruto answered. "To help me protect my precious ones." Even he knew enough these things to never ever say that he wanted to have a summon as a tool - especially not to an intelligent animal. That was just impolite.

"Would you like a dragon summon?" the animal before him spoke the words slowly and deliberately like trying to taste the sounds.

Naruto blinked, his mind catching the words and throwing them around for a moment before they finally sunk in. Would he like a dragon summon? _Hell yes_ he would like a dragon summon. Even _one_ summon like the creature before him would mean that he'd probably come out undefeated from any fight he would use a summon in. The dragon was big enough to eat Manda or Gamabunta for breakfast! No one would dare to go against a summon like the dragon before him, not one Shinobi… and if there were _more_ than one, not one _nation_ would dare to go against…

The thought trailed away, along with the sudden, terrifying glimpse of a mental image his thoughts had conjured up - of him, standing victorious over the entire world, undefeated, respected, acknowledged… and feared.

Shinobi like the Legendary Three Ninja and like Hanzo were all both respected and feared for many things, but their summons were major part of it. Many Shinobi had summons, but very few had _gigantic_ ones like the ones the Three Legendary Ninja were known off. Just the knowledge that they had the power of summon something like that made majority of Shinobi run away from the very mention of their names on a battlefield, no doubt. If it was like that with normal summons, like snakes, toads and slugs… dragons would be feared ten times as much

Naruto frowned. A lot could be done with that kind of respect. A lot could be accomplished by that kind of fear. He could see it plain as day. Him, using such a powerful summon to bring forth age of true peace. He would end the Second Great Shinobi War and prevent the Third ever from happening. He'd stop Akatsuki before it even became widely known. There would be no wars and no conflicts because he'd keep the peace with his powerful summons, no one would dare to go against his will, and there would be no more killing.

"Well?" the dragon asked a little impatiently. "Would you like a dragon summon?"

_Yes_ he did, _yes, yes, yes_. He'd be _acknowledged_ by the _entire world_, no one would ever _belittle_ him or _ignore_ him or _mock_ him… no one would ever go against him. And there'd be peace, kept by him alone… perfect harmony with no circles or spirals of hatred, no tragedies…

Naruto squeezed his eyes shut. He had an answer. "No," he said. Answer to a question he had never heard asked, which he had never wanted answered. Answer which suddenly wished with all his heart he could deny, bury somewhere in inside him and forget forever. "No," he repeated, more to himself than to the dragon.

"Oh?" The dragon asked, obviously aware that Naruto had lied. "No? Why not?"

"I…" Naruto swallowed. _Not a no, yes, yes, say yes, _some part of him hissed at him. He ignored it and looked away, to somewhere which would help him think. His red fox mask, sitting on the tree branch beside him. "I wouldn't trust myself with that sort of power," he said, reaching for the mask like child for a security blanket and then pulling it to his face, finding odd, twisted comfort in hiding the face he once hid inside him. "I couldn't trust myself with that."

"But wouldn't a greater power prove to be more useful than lesser one?" the dragon asked thoughtfully. "Wouldn't a greater power help you protect your precious ones better?"

Naruto didn't answer at first. There was that old saying about power, proven true by Orochimaru and Madara and so many more powerful Shinobi. Proven true by himself in ugly glimpse inward. Naruto knew he wasn't a perfect person. He knew he wasn't the smartest person. He wasn't most understanding, he wasn't most accepting. But he had always thought himself a little kinder, little more understanding, little more accepting than most. He had thought himself beyond some things like greed and _evil_. And for someone who had housed evil inside himself, that was saying something.

It was painful to be proven wrong by yourself.

"Not always," he simply said, unable to voice the bitter truth, not now, not ever, not about himself. "Maybe someone could use a power like a dragon summon for… protection and nothing else…" Maybe he could at first too. He'd bring peace of Rain and then to Leaf… but he wouldn't be able to stop there. Gaara had made Sand close to his heart - and Haku had made Mist a place he'd definitely want to change. And once he'd have done that, he'd continue onward because of course _everyone_ should have peace…

"But I… I don't think I'd have that restraint."

"Hmm," the dragon hummed softly - it sounded rather like an inward roar. The creature seemed oddly pleased. "Restraint?" It nodded its enormous head once as if the question had held some sort of answer within itself. Then the dragon shifted closer, staring at Naruto with eyes so enormous he could've fit inside them ten times over. "But if you would decline a dragon summon, what sort of contract would you prefer, then?"

Naruto, feeling small and insignificant and utterly defeated in battle he hadn't known he had been fighting, shuddered slightly. "One that would teach me to be a better person," he whispered, unable to even remember Nagato and the war and the gang and his vow to protect them for a moment, and only concentrating selfishly onto himself. "One that would teach me restraint."

"Indeed," the dragon murmured with satisfaction and turned to look away so suddenly, that the absence of the powerful stare's pressure made Naruto feel oddly out of balance. The dragon looked ahead steadily. "Continue along this path," the dragon said, nodding ahead. "In a day, you will encounter a brook with a hill on the other side. Circle the hill three times and then go back over the brook."

Naruto frowned, uncomprehending for a moment. Without another word, the dragon stretched and then jumped into the air, slithering away across the sky like snake in grass rather than several-thousand-ton beast it really was. Only as the dragon turned into nothing but thin line in the distance, Naruto realised he had been given key to a Genjutsu - a way inside an illusion.

x

The day's worth of travelling went through in a sort of guilty, self-loathing haze for Naruto and he was almost surprised when he found himself at the brook the dragon had told him about. It was small, clear thing that merrily ran from north to south, like a line drawn between forest of odd gigantism and normal looking, grassy hill.

For a while Naruto just stared at the hill across the brook. It was small, insignificant and if he hadn't known it was somehow special, he would've just jumped over it and continued on further to west. Even the tingle along his senses that spoke of the presence of Genjutsu didn't interest him - he had ran through, over and along so many Genjutsu barriers so far with no hope of doing anything about them, that he didn't find the sensation in anyway remarkable. It was, though. Because it was a feel of Genjutsu he knew how to enter now.

The problem was, he didn't feel like he deserved it, not anymore. He didn't even feel like he deserved to be a Sage anymore. Not with the amount of greed and corruption he had found inside himself. Not with the knowledge that he too would, if given the chance, try and control the entire world. Oh, he'd do all for the right reasons. But Pain had done everything for the right reasons too.

But as much as the disgust towards himself made him turn away, it was the thought of Nagato that kept him from turning around and simply heading back home. The gang was waiting; Nagato, Konan and Yahiko were waiting. Shiryoku and Yoaruki too. He had promised he'd come back with summon contract under his belt. He had promised to come back and bring with him new hope for their cause.

And he didn't break his promises.

With a sigh, Naruto touched the mask which he had not taken off since the encounter with the dragon. For a moment he considered taking it off - if this was it and he could possibly encounter a race that might one day ally him as his summons, it would be only right to show them his face. But, in odd way, he already was. The fox mask was just as true as the human face beneath, if not more.

He left the mask where it was and jumped over the brook. The dragon hadn't told him which way he had to circle the field, so he picked a direction randomly and headed along the hill clockwise, idly wondering what kind of creatures lived beneath this illusion. It could be anything, he realised. He had seen so many different sort of summons in his time that as far as he knew, there was no real limit of what kind they were. Hell, if there were _dragons_…

He circled the field once, twice and finally for the third time before jumping back over the brook like instructed. Immediately he could feel the world shift around him, and his Senjutsu enhanced senses told him that the Genjutsu was shifting around him, letting him in. He didn't dare to turn look at the hill behind him at first, but then the curiosity got the best of him, and he turned.

There was no field there anymore, nor was there a brook. Instead he was at the outer shore of a wide river that flowed at the root of a village climbing up the side of a hill much bigger than the one he had walked around. The village reminded him of Myoubokuzan at first - it was gigantic, the house _doors_ were bigger than the Hokage Tower. But there were major differences. For one, Myoubokuzan was a mountain and the houses there had been thrown around in a bit hap hazard manner. This one was neatly organised. The style of buildings was different as well - Myoubokuzan buildings were vaguely familiar to Naruto and few were in design one could see in Hidden Leaf. These buildings were much older and much grander design. Also, the village was arranged into odd layers - about ten of them - with enormous temple with a Torii gates and everything standing at the top layer.

"It looks a little like a rice field," he mumbled to himself. Actually, that was exactly what it looked like. There were even walls surrounding each terrace. Curious, Naruto stepped to a wide bridge that crossed over the river and approached the enormous village, wishing to see what sort of creatures lived there. The village had stairs, so it had to be something with legs, so not slugs or snakes. There were doors which had handles, so it had to be something with hands as well… or something hand-like. He couldn't see anyone yet, though.

"Well then," a voice suddenly spoke behind him, and Naruto could feel a breath. "You took your sweet time, didn't you?"

Naruto whirled around, more shocked about not having felt the person before they had approached than he was about being approached. He fought the instinct to reach for a kunai, and instead kept his hands loosely at his side. Pulling a weapon at possible summon wasn't a good idea at all.

But there was no one behind him. Confused, Naruto looked around and then even tried his neck to make sure there was nothing there - like a creature of Fukasaku's size who could ride his back without him noticing them. But there was no one.

"Oh great," Naruto muttered. The dragon hadn't led him into a ghost town, had it? "Um…" he glanced around again. "I'm sorry for intruding like this, but I was hoping to meet someone in charge."

The air around him rippled with giggling, making the hair in the back of his head stand up. He had seen some creepy things at his time - Madara and Orochimaru took the cake - but he hadn't seen _ghosts_ before. It was… unnerving.

"I think he's pretending to be a fox," someone said somewhere near by - a girl's voice. "A fake fox weirdo!"

"Weirdo," a boy's voice agreed. "Humans aren't foxes. Let's take it off!"

"No, no, no," Naruto grabbed hold of his mask. "No taking anything off. It was a gift to me. My mask. No touch!"

More giggling before an elder voice, the one that had spoken first, spoke out again. "Now, now, let's not tease the newcomer," it said, again directly at the back of Naruto's head, making him shiver. The voice laughed along with the giggling voices of the children, before speaking again. "Let's go and meet the head honcho then, shall we? Human-pretending-to-be-a-fox, head up there -" Naruto almost yelped as something wrenched at his head, turning him to face the wall of the next terrace of the village. Then his head was pulled back so that he looked up to the upper terraces - to the huge shrine there. "That's where you will meet him."

"Oh. Okay," Naruto mumbled, rubbing his now aching neck awkwardly and fighting every instinct that told him to get the hell out of there. "Thanks."

He could've jumped to the other terrace but instead used the enormous stairs. There he encountered no bodiless voices, but instead the entire terrace was full of pale blue will-o-wisps, floating around aimlessly and making the air around them turn cold. Shivering, he hurried to the next terrace, where there was a shopping street, full of see-through shadows that seemed to be going about their daily shopping. Naruto, seeing that some of them were missing heads and most had no legs, didn't stop to take a closer look.

The visions continued like that, until the second to last terrace. It, creepiest of all, was completely empty and looked like it had been abandoned for years and years. After the amount of ghosts he had encountered, the emptiness set him on the edge and made him almost certain that any moment now he'd be attacked by some thing. Like the floating giant heads of the seventh terrace or the ogres of the fifth terrace…

He hurried onward undisturbed until he was at the Torii gates, staring up at the enormous table. Cautious, he stepped forward and through the gate and to the final terrace. It was the ninth, and the shrine was the only thing there. It reminded him a little of the Great Toad Sage's house, but not much. This shrine was much grander, although the size was about right.

"Come in, then," a rough, deep voice called from inside the shrine. "You can gape the shrine later on, boy."

Hurriedly, Naruto headed forward and into the shrine that made him feel painfully small. In the inside it looked pretty much like normal shrine - aside from the size. Odd decorations and symbolic statues and weirdly carved pillars and all. Frowning slightly, Naruto looked around in hopes of finding the source of the voice, but there was no one there, not that he could see. Not at first. Then, a little startled, he looked up to what he had at first thought were oddly carved pillars but were instead paws.

A gigantic white fox was staring down on him.

x

There is whole world worth of geography-fail in this chapter. I only checked maps of the Naruto world after I wrote this chapter, and it would've been a bit troublesome to repair this horrendous error... so I didn't. Let's just say that countries I erased were created after the Second Ninja war, and pretend it was intentional, mmkay?

My apologies for possible grammar errors and such. My excuse is being Finnish and beta-intolerant. If you notice any that bother you, tell me and I will fix them.


	9. Tricksters and demons

**Tricksters and demons  
**

"We have been waiting for you," the gigantic fox said, looking down on Naruto who suddenly had a vague awareness of what Minato must've felt, facing the Kyuubi. It was one thing seeing a giant toad or a slug - even snakes were somewhat easy to handle because they had no claws to rip you apart with - but a fox was a different thing. So many claws and teeth… Even a dragon had been easier to handle because it had been so fantastic and dream-like and maybe not even real. Fox, though, was an animal mundane enough to be much more real - and more horrific because of it.

"Y-you have?" Naruto asked, shaking away the part of his brain which felt a prey's fear for a predator. He was a ninja, damn it. And a Sage. He had seen worse than a giant fox, he had fought with worse. Hell, he had fought against _demons_.

"The dragon let us know of your arrival," the fox answered, blinking slowly. "You came with him, Kuda? What do you think?"

A voice laughed behind Naruto - the first voice he had heard in the village, the one with uncanny ability to speak directly behind him. "He's a jerky one, this guy," the voice answered with mild amusement. "Been all stiff since coming in. But he's been handling it all pretty well, for someone with no talent in Genjutsu."

Something shifted over Naruto's head and he reached out to grab it. The first thought that came to him was that maybe he had caught a tail. But as he pulled his hand, and the thing he held, forward, he saw it wasn't a tail. It was a small creature, rather like a snake actually. A hairy snake with a fox's head and ears. Looking at the long thin body that writhed in his hold, he could see tiny front and back legs, far from each other. "What the heck?" he asked softly. "Fox snake?"

"A pipe fox, if you wouldn't mind," the creature said to him, trying to be nonchalant about being held like that but Naruto could feel the tension in the snake-like body he was holding. "Also, could you not hold me so tightly? I'm frail in my old age, you know. Brittle bones, brittle bones!"

Naruto let go with surprise more than because of the request. "You were the one talking behind me all the time!" he said. "What the hell was that about?"

The pipe fox shuddered its body before settling on Naruto's hand. "A greeting for a new comer," it answered calmly before looking up to the enormous white fox who was still staring down on them. "He has guts, this guy, I'll give him that," it said. "Didn't realise he was under a Genjutsu and still kept going, head strong as anything."

Naruto blinked. Genjutsu? He glanced towards the shrine entrance and frowned behind his mask. Everything he had seen had been Genjutsu? He thought about it for a moment before sighing. Of _course_ it had been a Genjutsu. The things he had seen were all impossible things. No such things as ghost existed after all. He sighed, feeling a little embarrassed with himself. He had gotten so adjusted to being surrounded by Genjutsu left and right that he hadn't even noticed the presence.

"No talent in Genjutsu, hm?" the white fox murmured, sitting to it's haunches and staring at Naruto - or at the pipe fox, it was hard to say which. "What is your name?"

"Kazama Arashi," Naruto answered.

"No, it isn't," the white fox answered, chuckling low and rumbling, something between growl and purr. "Where do you come from?"

Naruto hesitated, confused about how he had gotten caught of a lie so quickly and simply. "Land of Rain," he answered slowly.

"No, you don't," the enormous fox said again, nodding. "Why did you come here?"

"To find help." That was the truth, he was sure of it.

"No, you didn't."

The pipe fox laughed at the white fox's almost pleased tone of voice, and looked up at a slightly puzzled Naruto. "Three straight faced lies in a row. On top of that, you come here wearing a mask - a _fox_ mask nonetheless - with an inability of performing or detecting Genjutsu, and walk through a village of apparitions without much of a hesitation," the little fox shuddered with chuckles. "How amusing."

Naruto frowned. When put like that, his actions so far had been more than a little insulting - and he had lied at possible summons too. And yet… they seemed pleased? If he had done the same to the toads, they would've already whacked him left and right and kicked him out, no doubt. "Why is it amusing?" he asked finally, a little confusedly. "And for the record, I can detect Genjutsu. It's just that around here there are so many of them that I sort of got adjusted to…" It seemed a flimsy excuse as best.

Neither of the foxes answered. The great white fox merely hummed with satisfaction. "He'll do, for now," it said and turned to head away.

"Well, you heard the man. You'll do, for now," the pipe fox said, wrapping loosely around Naruto's wrist with tiny forelegs grabbing hold of the Shinobi's thumb. "How about we go down to the village and have something to eat while I'll explain how things work around here? There's a guy at the sixth level who makes the best udon in the world… what say you?"

Naruto stared at the little fox with mixed incredulity and confusion and after moment asked, "Do they serve sake? I could use some right now."

The little snake-like fox grinned. "That's the spirit," it said and even more confused Naruto headed out of the shrine, wondering what the hell he had gotten himself into.

**x**

"Don't take it so seriously," Kuda the pipe fox said as Naruto frowned at the foxes around them, most of them happily laughing at him and crowing about how they had gotten him with their Henge trick. "You're actually one of the few humans who didn't just turn tail and run, you know. Most never make it to the fifth terrace." The old snakelike fox laughed, his long body wrapped around a bowl of udon. "And the ones that make it up to the shrine usually run away when they see Inari-sama."

"I'm so proud of myself," Naruto muttered rather flatly, throwing a last look of distain top a near by group of foxes who were barely able to contain their mirth enough to enjoy their noodles. Shaking his head, he turned his attention to his own bowl before asking, "Inari-sama?"

"The head honcho. You know. Big white fox, in the shrine, hard to miss," the pipe fox grinned. "He runs the things around here. Not much on the sense of humour compartment, you know, but he's kept this place going for pretty long. Takes good care of our rowdy bunch."

The blonde Shinobi sighed and pushed his mask up to rest against his hair. "Uhhuh," he murmured and gathered some noodles to his chopsticks. Then he glanced at the fox, who was so small that he had to use both front legs to just lift a single thick noodle from the udon bowl. "I don't get it," he said. "You know I lied to you. Why didn't you kick me out?"

"We're foxes, kid. Lying is what we do, most of the time," Kuda answered and made a motion which might've been his version of shrugging shoulders. It was hard to tell when his shoulders were so far from his head. "And you lied about the things that don't matter to us and we can tell the truths about the things that do. Your name, your face, your place of birth, your reason of being, why would any of that mean anything to us? That's the _past_ you know. We're creatures of the present. Right now all we really care to know about you is whether you're fit to keep around."

"And… I am?" Naruto asked a bit confusedly.

"You suck at Genjutsu which is bit annoying since Genjutsu is sort of our thing. As you found out earlier," Kuda grinned. "But you got guts and that's good. Can't stand wimps, you know. And you didn't blow a fuse when you found out you were being tricked, which is good. Can't really stand a guy who can't take a joke either. I gotta admit, though, I think the reason why Inari-sama didn't have us kick you out is because the dragon sent you here. That's _never_ happened before, you know. The mask might have something to do with it too, though. It's a very nice mask, by the way."

"Thanks," Naruto murmured awkwardly. "What's the deal with the dragon, though?"

"Who knows. He's been living around here for longer than the Field's been up and running," Kuda shrugged his shoulders again. "Comes and goes how he pleases, does all these sort of tests for travellers. Asks them if they want power and stuff. I don't know how you answered and I don't much care, but know that you're lucky. If he hadn't liked your answer, he probably would've killed you."

Naruto blinked. "It was a _test_?" he asked.

"Yeah," the fox snorted, glancing up to him. "You didn't really think there's a thing like dragon summon, right?"

Naruto flushed. "It seemed pretty believable at the time," he murmured defensively. "Though it might've been I was scared enough to piss myself," he added embarrassedly, looking away. It did make sense, in odd way. Okay, it was pretty weird for dragon to test the character of travellers, but really, he had encountered weirder things. Suddenly he had a feeling that the result of answering _yes_ might've been pretty bad for him. "Did he say why he sent me _here_?" he asked after moment of embarrassed silence.

"How should I know? I wasn't there - the dragon only talked with Inari-sama and took off," Kuda answered, bowing his head to snatch another noodle from the bowl. "It's never happened though. I heard he has sent people to the ravens and to the salamanders and to the snakes and stuff before, but this is the first time he sent someone to us. Usually people somehow end up finding this place on their own."

Naruto frowned, thinking about the Genjutsu key. "I can't imagine why, it wasn't exactly simple the way I got here," he murmured.

"It's not the only way in, just the closest to you I guess," Kuda said. "We have pretty many entrances here, though, and most of them aren't too secure. We don't actually have much reason for security - no one really wants to attack us or anything, you know. And those that do, we can chase out with the use of mere Henge most of the time."

"Is everything here smoke and mirrors?" the Shinobi sighed. Genjutsu this, Henge that, trick this, prank that. Not that he didn't appreciate a good prank - he really did - but Genjutsu really wasn't his forte. Henge was, sure, but Genjutsu… not so much.

"Pretty much," Kuda answered. "Dunno what you were expecting. We're not foxes for nothing, you know."

"I don't know," Naruto sighed and ate few mouthfuls of the noodles while trying to figure out the answer. "I only came here in hopes of finding a summoning contract," he finally admitted. "I… wasn't really gonna be too picky about what kind of contract I would get just as long as I could get one. And I guess I did hope for one with some big summons, you know… like Inari-sama sized."

"Hmm…" the pipe fox thought about it. "Well, of course there is Inari-sama himself, but as no one's ever really had our summoning contract… we have one, of course, just no human has ever gotten as far with us as to try and sign it you know. So I don't know if he'd be willing to let himself summoned. I imagine that would take lot of chakra too, he is a big guy," the fox ate a noodle and burped softly. "Well, we have few foxes about as big as he is. There's Gizensha, but he's a weird guy, hard to tell what he's thinking half of the time. Koukatsu might actually like being summoned, he likes fighting that one. Zurui too maybe, though he's not _that_ big. Hmm… some of the old foxes might be willing to help too, but I suggest asking first or they might just bite your head off if you try."

That made sense. Naruto had never really talked to half of the toads he had summoned before summoning them, but if had been alright back then because he had been Jiraiya's student and Minato's kid - they had been inclined to forgive some lapses in etiquette. Here, on other hand… it was probably better to show some courtesy before asking for help. "Um… do you think I can sign the contract?" Naruto asked.

"I don't see anything wrong with the idea," Kuda shrugged his slim shoulders again. "But it might be best to ask Inari-sama's permission first. He might get grouchy if we do stuff without his consent."

"Right, of course," Naruto nodded and spend another moment concentrating onto eating. "So," he said once he had finished his bowl and a the fox who owned the shop carried him another one. Naruto eyed the udon maker for a moment, somewhat bemused by the fact that the fox walked on hind legs and wore clothes and apron, before turning his eyes back to Kuda. "You were going to explain this place to me?"

**x**

Unlike the toads who had had something to show him or teach him, the foxes had no interest in offering him anything. Though Kuda showed him around in the village, which was called Oinarioka, Naruto didn't actually learn much about it. Well, he learned that the village was full of foxes of varying sizes and colours and that apparently all of them knew Genjutsu - and most knew little else in fact - but not much else. Though it could've been that that was it for the village, and there was nothing else to really see anyway.

He was however made the local prank target and he could barely walk through a street without being attacked by Genjutsu or being tripped into a bucket of paint or something. After being showered in paint and water and one time being tripped into a barrel of rice which had sent the owner of the said barrel attacking him with a broom, he was ready to stick a Rasengan into the next fox who wanted to prank him. He suddenly had odd feeling of what Iruka must've felt, teaching him, but that didn't much help with dealing with the overly enthusiastic pranksters in the village.

By the end of the first day, he was hundred percent certain that he didn't even want to have a contract with the foxes. Most of them knew nothing of fighting and they were a goddamn menace - and would be next to no use at all on a battlefield. Well, they could throw Genjutsu around better than any Genjutsu master Naruto had ever encountered, but that didn't make them useful to _him_. He had no idea how to work along side with a Genjutsu user. Most of the time trying just ended up confusing him.

However, in the second day after a night spend in surprisingly nice inn, Kuda took him to meet Gizensha, one of the biggest foxes of the village, and Naruto changed his idea about the uselessness of the foxes. Gizensha was as big as the biggest summons by the Legendary Three Ninja - an enormous red fox almost as big as Inari himself. Naruto could however easily tell why Kuda thought he was a weird guy. On his back, Gizensha wore enormous sheep skin, he even had a sort of head gear made from sheep skull with horns still attached.

"So, this is the human. Arashi, was it?" Gizensha rumbled, peering down on Naruto through the eyeholes of his sheep-skull head gear. "He has the right attitude," the fox murmured approvingly.

Naruto was too busy wondering where the fox had gotten a sheep big enough for his choice of accessory to even begin to try and figure out what he meant with what he said. "Thanks?" he merely offered and belatedly thought the fox probably meant his mask, which he was once more wearing. The foxes seemed to prefer that he wore it, so he only undressed it to eat. "Kuda said you wanted to see me?" he added, glancing at the pipe fox coiling on his shoulder

"And so I have," the fox agreed, sitting to his haunches and idly wagging the end of his bushy tail. The motion created air currents strong enough to make the trees near by rustle. "Word has it you want to have our summoning contract. I was curious about why."

"I have enemies to fight and people to protect," Naruto shrugged. "Having a summoning contract would help me - since most of my enemies tend to have contracts of their own and it's kind of hard to fight a salamander or snake of your size by myself."

"Hard to tell if we'd be much use for this guy, though," Kuda piped up, slithering up from Naruto's shoulders and settling down on top of his head. "Not much of a Genjutsu user, Arashi that is."

"Pshs," Gizensha snorted. "Genjutsu isn't everything. I can't do it to save my life and I've survived well enough regardless."

Naruto blinked surprise. "I didn't know there were foxes who didn't do Genjutsu," he murmured.

"There are a few though they aren't too common," Kuda answered.

"And there are those who know Ninjutsu aside from Genjutsu too. So the fact that this guy isn't a Genjutsu user shouldn't be that much of a hindrance. Besides, he might still be able to learn," Gizensha murmured thoughtfully. "What can you do, Arashi? You're a Shinobi, right, so you should know something. Ninjutsu, Taijutsu…"

"Kinjutsu and Senjutsu," Naruto snorted. Most of his signature attacks were all forbidden techniques, amusingly enough. "I also know some Fuuton jutsu, but I wouldn't call myself a master."

"Senjutsu?" Kuda asked, startled.

"Kinjutsu?" Gizensha asked curiously before Naruto could answer. "Like what?"

"Mostly attacks forbidden because most people either maim or kill themselves trying them," Naruto shrugged and explained Kage Bunshin and its high chakra demand, and then told them about his own creation, the Rasenshuriken, which was something probably only he alone could perform. "I have large chakra reserves and I… used to heal so quickly that I can use stuff like this without much worry. I think by using Senjutsu I could still use Rasenshuriken too, I can throw it with Senjutsu so it wouldn't harm me as much."

"How did you learn Senjutsu?" Kuda asked curiously. "I didn't know humans knew it."

"I don't think they do. I only know one other guy who knows it and he learned it from the toads," Naruto answered. He had learned it from the toads too, but he wasn't about to say that. Not when there was a danger of it backfiring.

"Kinjutsu, huh?" Gizensha murmured. "This is very interesting. I need to talk with Koukatsu and Zurui about this…"

Naruto later talked also with Koukatsu, a red fox with quick temper, and then to Zurui, a black fox who was apparently the greatest Ninjutsu expert in the Oinarioka just after Inari. Koukatsu wasn't that curious about Naruto's Kinjutsu or Senjutsu abilities though, and instead wanted to hear all about Naruto's battles and enemies and had the Shinobi explain the whole concept of the Second Great Shinobi War. And Zurui was more interested about the Kinjutsu and Ninjutsu Naruto knew, and had Naruto explain some of his Fuuton attacks to him even though the black fox himself was more Katon oriented.

That was how it started. Soon after he had spoken with the three large foxes, the others wanted to talk with him and measure him themselves. Some didn't think much of him and few of them even said out right that they plain refused ever being summoned by him. Others were curious, asking about where he came from and what he had done. So, aside from being pranked every now and then by a bored, fun seeking fox, Naruto found himself playing the part of a story teller, explaining the oddities of humanity to the foxes who had only rarely seen people like him. For some of the younger foxes he was the first human they had ever seen, even,

The first days went by like that and though Naruto got to know lot of foxes and figured that maybe having Genjutsu oriented summon wasn't that bad idea, he didn't really feel like he was getting anywhere with it. And every now and then memory of Nagato, Yahiko and Konan surfaced and he felt a pressing haste to return, to go back and make sure they were alright, that nothing had happened. Sometimes he even felt that he should've never left at all.

In Naruto's fourth day in Oinarioka, he was called by Inari. Kuda wasn't with him that time, but as Naruto had already gotten used to the village it wasn't exactly difficult to climb up the stairs and towards the shrine. He even managed to side step most of the traps and dispel two Genjutsu sent his way on the way. He was hit by one of the, but in comparison to some of the ones he had so far experienced, the illusionary rush of black cats that threatened to overwhelm him was rather easy to ignore.

"You called me, Inari-sama?" Naruto asked as he stepped inside the shrine and found the enormous white fox comfortably lying there, waiting for him.

"I have decided to let you sign our summoning contract," the great white fox said. "Against my better judgement."

Naruto waited for a moment for him to continue, but he doesn't. "You don't want to, but you're letting me sign the contract?" he finally asked a little hesitatingly. It's only the second time he has talked with the great fox, so it wasn't that surprising that he couldn't quite understand the great beast. "Why?"

"Because having a contract with a summoner gives creatures as ourselves power and wealth of knowledge," the great fox shrugged. "Foxes have never had a summoner before, but I know what it does to have one. The toads have grown greatly since they got their summoner and though snakes have always been vicious and powerful, they've gained more strength in the last ten years than they have in the last hundred. Same goes with some other creatures here. By letting themselves be summoned, they have grown in power, experience and wisdom. My race has not."

Inari stood up, stretching lazily before turning around to head away. Confused, Naruto followed him and as he fought to keep up with the fox's fast striding, the leader of Oinarioka continued. "People have been coming here more often in the last century than they did before. Unification of the human clans into countries probably has something to do with it - knowledge passes faster between your people now and more people are aware of us. That's why more of us animal races have contracts. That is why I designed the one for my own race. However… even if a Shinobi strayed into our village, they either could not handle us or they did not want us."

"Didn't _want you_?" Naruto asked with mild shock. "Why the hell not? I get that a Genjutsu oriented summon might be a difficult companion for a Shinobi who doesn't get Genjutsu, but they can't all be like that - beside there are lot of you foxes who do more than Genjutsu…"

"It's not because of our orientation, it's because of kinship," Inari interrupted and stopped. Glancing up to him with surprise, Naruto saw that he was looking ahead - to a great wall with enormous painting in it. It was about a great red fox and Naruto only needed a split of a second to recognise it. There was only one fox in existence with multiple tails after all. "Our kinship with the nine tailed fox makes humans wary of us."

Naruto blinked and then frowned. "But the Kyuubi isn't a fox, really," he said confusedly. "The Kyuubi's not even an animal. He just looks like one."

The white fox gave him a surprised look before nodding. "Yes. But not all know that," he said. "Most people with little knowledge about the tailed demons think that they were normal animals once. They think that the Kyuubi came from my clan. That we are related."

"That's stupid," Naruto muttered. "The only creatures he is related are the other tailed beasts." And, in twisted way, the only freely living creature the Kyuubi was related to was Naruto himself.

"You know much about them," Inari murmured. "And you're wiser than I thought. But the fact remains, humans often seem wary of us because of our similarities with the nine tailed beast. The few times I have felt inclined to offer our summoning contract to a human, it has been always declined because of this reason. Even if that person had grown adjusted to us, they preferred not to be allied with us. They did not want to become known as the summoner of foxes…"

Naruto frowned. He didn't get it. He would've understood if the foxes were avoided in the _future_ when the Kyuubi had the history of attacking Hidden Leaf. But now? It made no sense at first... but then he remembered Madara. Madara who had been known for being able to manipulate the Kyuubi, and who no doubt had used the fox against many people. And even before that the Kyuubi was known for being a malicious force of nature. Of course. The Kyuubi was an old creature. Attack against Hidden Leaf hadn't been the only time he had taken human lives. Just the latest Naruto had heard off.

He sighed and rubbed his neck. Still, it didn't make much sense for people to be wary of a summon race as powerful as the foxes just because they looked similar as one of the tailed beasts. But… it didn't make much sense for people to hate Jinchuuriki for the demons they held either. "Humans can be illogical," he murmured.

"Yes," Inari agreed and looked down to him. "I see you are not wary of being known as summoner or foxes."

"I'm already known as the Fox Sage. Having you at my side would only make sense," Naruto snorted. And all that was nothing compared to being the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi himself. It all tied together with wonderful, painful irony, really. Another circle of misery, this one within himself.

**x**

Naruto signed the contract in his blood and chakra and became the first Shinobi to ever have signed the contract of the foxes. Thanks to being a summoner previously, it didn't take long for him to figure how much chakra to apply to summon the specific foxes. The first fox he ended up summoning was Gizensha, who seemed to find it to be reason for some pride and immediately bragged about it to Koukatsu and Zurui.

He however found his fourth attempt at summoning foxes to be the most fruitful one. He managed to summon Yatai, one of the foxes who walked on two legs. That, alone, wasn't the reason why he was so happy. It was because he also managed to summon Yatai's food cart along with the fox. Summoning Gizensha on a battlefield might've been useful as hell. But summoning Yatai _anywhere_ meant instant bowl of warm, freshly cooked udon. And Naruto was a Shinobi who above all listened to the needs of his stomach.

"You will be able to summon myself, if needed," Inari said to him after Naruto had summoned ten foxes and figured the contract out. The white fox had been watching the entire process and seemed pleased that Naruto had picked up it so fast. If he suspected that Naruto had precious experience, he didn't say anything about it. "But the chakra requirement will be far larger than for any other fox. Even for your reserves, Arashi, it might be a little too much."

"If necessary, I can use Senjutsu to get more chakra. But I will only summon you if I really, really need to," Naruto said. He didn't know how strong the white fox, but he had a feeling that summoning him to any fight under Kage-level would be bit of an over kill.

"I appreciate that," the white fox nodded his large head, and then glanced at him. "You will be leaving soon?" It sounded more like order than a question.

"I have to return to Rain. They're waiting for me," Naruto shrugged. "I was hoping one of the foxes here would be willing to give me a ride. Not that I mind walking, but it took me three weeks to get here, I kind of don't want to waste that much time again."

"I'm sure Gizensha at least would be willing to accompany you. He has grown a fondness for you, for whatever reason," the white fox said, standing up with a stretch.

"He just likes my mask," Naruto chuckled and looked up to the fox. "I haven't said it yet, but thank you. I really appreciate that you let me have the contract with foxes." He turned to face the great fox fully and bowed formally. "You have my gratitude, Inari-sama."

"And you have mine, if this contract leads where I hope it will," the fox nodded in answer. "Take care on your journey."

"I will. Thank you," Naruto said and bowed again.

He made ready to leave not much after that. He hadn't gained any possessions during his stay in Oinarioka, so packing took only few minutes. Gizensha was ready to leave less than that, as he was fine with nothing but the sheep skin on his back. Saying goodbyes took a little longer, as some of the younger foxes had grown fond of teasing Naruto and their goodbye-Genjutsu took almost hour to break out of.

"I adore you foxes, I really do," Naruto sighed while climbing to the sheepskin on Gizensha's back. "But can't you pick on someone of your own skill level? It's not that I mind the training I get - hell, I've never been this good at dispelling Genjutsu - but _jeez_!"

The great fox laughed loudly and not much after that they left Oinarioka behind them.

xx

Oinarioka and the behaviour of the foxes is based on what I read about the kami Inari and about foxes in Japanese mythology from wikipedia, but Kuda and Yatai got some influence from XXXholic. And Gizensha is obviously fox in sheep's skin - or a hypocrite. Also, why do people read stories with slash if they hate it? Seriously. It's starting to bug me.

My apologies for possible grammar errors and such. My excuse is being Finnish and beta-intolerant. If you notice any that bother you, tell me and I will fix them.


	10. End of peace

**End of peace**

As he and Gizensha travelled over the uncharted territories, much faster and swifter than Naruto could've ever hoped to be alone, he realised how stupid he had been. On Gizensha's back, he could see all the creatures that had no doubt been watching him on his way. A murder of enormous crows scattered away at Gizensha's presence, and not much after that Gizensha plunged right through a web made by a spider as big as a house. For a while they were followed by a gigantic hawk and when Gizensha said that he'd need to take a long way because they were coming too close to the bear territories, Naruto felt very, very small.

It was really no wonder that most people who came to these territories never came out of them. Naruto would've loved to say that it had been gutsy to come there, that he had been brave, but really he had been merely ignorant. If he had known, he would've been a little more cautious than he had been.

"What is it that makes you animals grow so big in here?" Naruto asked when they stopped to rest for the night. "I've seen all sorts of animals back in the elemental countries and they're nothing like animals are here. Foxes there never grow as big, or as intelligent as you guys are."

"It's because the uncharted lands are abundant in nature's energy," the great fox in lamb's skin shrugged. "The place where you humans live has been torn open and burned to the ground so many times that the nature there is _weak_ for the lack of better word. The oceans there might still be strong in nature's energy, but the ground there isn't."

Gizensha yawned with a stretch and settled down. "You haven't wondered why the plants here are bigger?" he asked, nodding at the enormous leaf Naruto was sitting on. "It's because the very soil here is saturated with nature's energy. Plants get more energy from it the ground, and grow bigger because of it. And when they die, the energy returns to the soil, and the process repeats. So, really, it's not that things here are big." The fox grinned at the Shinobi. "It's that they're small where you come from."

Naruto chuckled and shook his head. "Even you all start out small," he said. "The newborn fox kits are no bigger here than they are in my land." He thought about it for a moment and then snorted, wondering if humans too would grow to become giants if they lived in the uncharted lands and ate the chakra saturated food that land produced.

It… actually might explain why Jiraiya was so goddamned tall. The Toad Sage had lived with the toads for months, and before that he had travelled in the uncharted territories for a long while no doubt. And he had been pretty young back then. Eating the food produced by the uncharted territories had probably given him a growth spurt or few. Lucky bastard.

Thinking of Jiraiya brought forth a odd brand of nostalgia, and leaning to the stalk of the odd gigantic plant, Naruto wondered if Jiraiya had been there once, travelling back after claiming a summoning contract. He imagined young Jiraiya, hopelessly lost in the gigantic woods and stumbling over the enormous tree roots and running away from various gigantic beasts that wanted to eat him, and laughed in belated sympathy.

It was interesting though, how they had both fallen to their slots. Them, the two loud idiots, bumbling their way from one mess to another. Jiraiya the Toad Sage, master of Fuuinjutsu. Naruto the Fox Sage, master of Kinjutsu.

Well, not quite a master. Not yet.

But maybe eventually. Once the Second War would be over and the Land of Rain a little more secure, he could spend some time in research and experimentation. Maybe he could create something. The thrill of managing to make a true Rasengan, and then the sheer unrestrained _pleasure_ of the success of creating Rasenshuriken… it had been enough for him not to even notice his severely maimed hand at the time! That just from managing to upgrade someone else's attack. The mere idea of creating something own his own, something completely unheard of…

He closed his eyes and sighed. He was a fool. There was a war going on. And another one would follow it. Nagato wouldn't be secure until Hanzo was defeated and Yahiko the undisputed leader of Hidden Rain - and that would not happen with the end of the Second War. That would take a civil war, a mess much more vicious than a war between nations. It was better not to dream of castles in the sky before the matters closer to earth were dealt with.

Still, when he slept, he dreamed of chakra blades and swords made of wind and how with a swipe of his hand he could give or take air away from someone.

**x  
**

The border of the Land of Mountains came and was left behind swiftly. In magnificent leaps Gizensha jumped from mountain to another, running across valleys and over the rivers in between them, and raced further towards east in much faster pace than even most of the other big summons could have managed. The trip, which had taken Naruto three weeks, was about to be crossed in a mere week if even that and Gizensha had barely broken a sweat. Not that fox sweated anyway.

"Well, foxes are fast creatures," the fox in sheep's skin said with mock modesty. Naruto certainly didn't mind, though it all made him feel a little slow in comparison. Valleys that had taken him hours and gorges he had had to use all his tricks to go over were all passing by in blur of motion and the further along they got, the shorter the distance seemed. Naruto had prided himself for being fast traveller even. Having a fox to compare himself to was certainly teaching him some humility.

Eventually, they came to the lower mountains that signalled that they were getting closer to the border. The Land of Rain started exactly on the line where the mountain range of Land of Mountains ended, so the smaller the mountains got, the closer they were. "How will we deal with that?" Gizensha asked curiously as Naruto informed him of the upcoming barrier.

"Well, you're big enough to just jump over it," Naruto snorted. "That might catch the attention of the guards, but at this point it doesn't really matter if they do notice us. On the other side you can return to Oinarioka and I will continue alone on foot - I should be alright by myself, and that way I will be able to travel inconspicuously."

"Or you could summon a fox with some Genjutsu capabilities," Gizensha said thoughtfully. "Hissori is good at making field Genjutsu, she could throw one over the barrier top let us jump over it without anyone noticing."

Naruto considered it for a moment and then shook his head. "It wouldn't be able to fool the seal barrier," he said. "Hanzou has the entire country wrapped in seals that note when unauthorised people cross the barriers. Even if we did throw a Genjutsu over the wall, it wouldn't hide my arrival. And at this point, letting myself be known might serve the gang's cause…" Rumours of Yahiko having a summoner at his side certainly would do the gang some good.

"If you say so. But you really ought to try and think more like a fox," Gizensha said. "Not fitting for our clan to have such a bold and blatant summoner."

Naruto laughed and patted the enormous fox's back. "I'm still young; I have time to learn to be cunning and sly later. Let's just go with the obvious approach this time. We can be all sneaky the next time."

Gizensha let out a bark of laughter, sound which made Naruto always shiver, and then charged forward.

Later that day they finally reached the barrier, and as Naruto pressed himself tighter against the thick sheepskin, the great fox rushed forward without a pause, crossed over the bare border in one leap and then jumped up and over the high wall with all the ease of the enormous beast he really was. Naruto could only distantly hear the cried and yells of the guardsmen at the wall, but if they came after them or tried to send their own summons at them, it was lost at the distance. In his usual speed, Gizensha conquered and left the wall behind within few seconds and after few more, Naruto couldn't even see the wall anymore.

The blonde sighed, knocking the forehead of his mask a little irritably. Really. Toads had nothing on how insignificant foxes could make their summoner feel. All the effort Naruto had spent on conquering the wall before, all that time spent in useless meditation… Gizensha overcame all that in a single fluid leap.

"Gizensha, stop!" he called. "This is far enough, I think. Let me down."

When the fox slowed down, Naruto jumped down to the ground. He glanced around and then up to the sky. To someone unfamiliar with the land, it would've looked like it was about to rain. Naruto knew that it was already raining. He sighed slightly. It had been nice in the mountains and in the uncharted territories - he had been able to actually see the sky. Didn't seem like that would happen in a while though.

With a shake of his head, he pulled out an umbrella from his back pack and pushed it open. "Thank you for the ride," he said, turning to face the summon. "I can handle it from here."

"Alright. Don't hesitate to call me if you need something else," Gizensha answered with a stretch. "Me or someone else. We're getting so dusty at the old rice field that we certainly can use a jump outside every now and then. Actually, try summoning Koukatsu if you need someone to fight. Gods know, he has energy to spare."

Naruto chuckled. "I will keep that in mind," he promised, lifting the umbrella to his shoulder. "Tell hi to the others for me," he added as the fox finished his stretching.

"Will do. Take care," Gizensha nodded his enormous, sheep-skull adorned head, and then vanished with a poof of smoke.

Naruto waited until the chakra smoke dissipated, before lifting his hands into a seal. Three Kage Bunshin appeared to his side and with silent hand motions he sent them to different directions, before he himself headed deeper into the country, and towards the hideout of Yahiko's gang.

The hideout was almost empty when he got there, safe from two members who were fixing the rooftop. They only had to say one thing for Naruto to realise what had happened. "They evacuated."

Apparently Hanzo had found and roughened up this hideout as well during his absence. After spending moment in confused panic and self loathing, Naruto hurriedly asked if everyone was alright and that if anything had happened to the leaders - because gods help him if Yahiko, or Konan were in trouble or, worse yet, dead, and _Nagato_ was left to pick up the pieces.

"They're fine. It'll take a bit more than that to take out our heads," the members who had lingered behind to fix the hideout said, while one of them wrote directions for Naruto to get to the third hideout. "This is where they should be. It wasn't long since they evacuated and this place is a bit harder to get to so I doubt Hanzo has any chance of finding them. Besides, Hanzo's too busy with the other nations to bother with us."

"Oh?" Naruto asked with little trepidation while checking the directions and then hiding the paper in his kunai pouch.

"The ceasefire ended two weeks ago," the other member said, folding his arms. "Sand was poisoning Leaf's water supply, or so we heard - tried to put poison into one of the water filtration centres according to the rumours. It would've poisoned the whole village, apparently."

"Tried to?" Naruto asked hopefully. They hadn't succeeded right?

"Some hot shot medic-nin caught it in time and countered it before anyone died, but I hear lot of people in the village got really sick," the member sighed, shaking his head. "Nasty pieces of work, those Sand Ninja, doing something like that during ceasefire. Leaf's been at their throats for it about two weeks now."

"It's only proper ninja way of fighting," Naruto sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Using all and every advantage available. As much as I would wish it, Shinobi aren't exactly the most honourable fighters around."

"You telling me," the other snorted. "Hanzo sneaked up here like a goddamn lizard and almost blew the place up. It was darn lucky Yahiko's clone caught the sight of him soon enough to start an evacuation."

"Yeah," Naruto nodded, now feeling a little more anxious to get to the main gang. "I should be on my way already. Is there any word you want to send to Yahiko-san or anything like that? I can carry it with me to him."

"Nothing, except tell him we're on the way with the repairs. We should have this place fit for living in few more weeks - we've already managed to stop most leaks. It'll take a bit longer to fix the upper floor from the water damage, but the lower levels should be suitable enough if they're needed."

Naruto nodded. "I'll tell them."

While he ran towards the third hideout, already drenched in the rain despite trying to protect himself with the umbrella, he wondered about the gang hideouts. The first one had been a cave, the second an abandoned house. It was plain obvious that the gang didn't have much as far as money came and whatever money they did have they quickly spend on more important things like food, clothes and supplies. So, when it came time to repair places like the second hideout, they couldn't buy any supplies or even tools for it and had to do it all by hand and by using whatever they already had.

The gang needed money. And not just to repair things, but for other things as well. Naruto remembered the malnourished state of his students and frowned. He could fix that by summoning Yatai often - though the fox did ask for payment, it wasn't too much and he could always pay the fox back later, once they would have money. But they also needed obscure and hard-to-get things like prosthetics - medicine in general would be useful too, probably. Having some writing supplies would come in handy too, not just for writing but to teach those of the gang who didn't know how to write and to make seals.

He sighed, pulling the umbrella shut as it didn't help him much while he was running. He didn't know much about seals, but he knew how to do storage seals - and now that he had a summoning contract, he would be able to make a reverse-summoning scroll for himself. That would be one of the first things he would need to do, actually. He wouldn't be able to stand the nervousness of leaving those he ought to be protecting much longer. Leaving a summoning scroll for himself behind every time he left would ensure that if they needed his help, they would have a way of immediately getting it.

"Maybe I should go the way of Kakuzu and become a bounty hunter," he murmured mirthlessly. The bounties these days wouldn't be as huge as the ones in the future - and the ones with bounties might not yet have them, or they might not yet even be born - but there should be a few around. With the war going on, there had to be people wanting the lives of other people. "That, though, would go against everything the gang believes in…"

Well, it wasn't like the gang wasn't already worrying about the money issues themselves - and really, they had more pressing worries to think about. Staying alive for one, staying one step ahead of Hanzo, and the continuation of the war. If Sand and Leaf were fighting, it was only matter of time before Rock would join the melee and then Rain would become a battle field once more. Though, if Rock was smart about it, it would wait until Sand and Leaf would tire each other out, and _then_ it would join the fight. Hopefully not.

Considering the amount of heroes the Second Great Shinobi War created in leaf - the Three Legendary Ninja and the White Fang at least got their reputations during the war, and probably few others too - it was somewhat safe to bet on Konoha in the war. Naruto had no idea who would _win_ though, or if anyone would. Shinobi wars as far as he could tell ended when one side decided that the war was either getting nowhere or they were losing it, not when someone actually won. There had been altogether three great wars - in his time - between the larger nations, and although they had shifter the borders just a little, not one great nation had personally taken the land from another. The borders of the Fire Country for one had stayed pretty much the same since the founding times - except for the few smaller nations it had consumed in the First Great Shinobi War…

Naruto sighed, running his hand through his wet hair and shifting the mask so that it was securely in place. It was really not much fun how his priorities immediately shifted once he returned to Rain. It had been almost enjoyable to ignore all this stuff in the Oinarioka, even if it hadn't been for long. Now he had a goddamned war pressing down on him. Not fun at all.

And he really should've studied more history at school.

The third hideout was in a cave much like the first one, but this cave was whole lot harder to get to. The only opening which he could use at the moment was under a lake. Naruro had never been as happy as he was then that he was a Fuuton user, as he didn't have one of those breathing masks which allowed people to go under water easily. Still, even while manipulating wind chakra to create a bubble around him, it wasn't easy to _find_ the entrance to the caves and once he did, it wasn't easy to actually get in. the entrance was booby trapped _and_ hidden beneath Genjutsu.

"I see you've taken lessons from Hanzo in security," Naruto said after managing through the illusions and the traps, only to be captured by two gang members who then held him at knife-point until Nagato arrived to verify that he was who he claimed to be. "How can you get in and out of this place when the only opening is so hard to get to?"

"It's not the only opening, the others merely cannot be opened from the out side," Nagato said after using Rinnegan to him and letting the guards return back to their stations. "And we had to after how fast Hanzo found the previous hideout."

"Yeah, I heard you were attacked. Everyone is alright, aren't they?" Naruto asked, looking the red haired Shinobi up and down to make sure he was okay and right state of mind. He didn't look insane. Much. "Yahiko-san, Konan-san?"

"Both are fine and well. Few of your kids got ill because of the journey - it was raining sleet that time," Nagato answered and motioned Naruto to follow. "Come on. I bet the others will want to hear how your trip went."

"Don't you?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I can hear it with them I guess," the other answered and sighed. "Sorry I'm not exactly excited. It's been a little rough to get by since the war started again. We can still get fish pretty easily, but not much else - we can't even buy supplies anymore because the prices went up. And Yahiko doesn't want to steal anymore because he doesn't want to damage the gang's reputation."

"Understandable. The reputation is the only thing that might make us succeed," Naruto answered. "Has the war's continuation affected Rain badly?" he asked then a little worriedly.

"Not as badly as it would've, hadn't things been so bad already. With Hanzo keeping the borders shut, it doesn't make much difference if the war continues. So far they're fighting in the other border countries and hadn't yet came here, but if Rock joins the fight… it's on the matter of time before this place becomes a battle field again," Nagato answered, rubbing his neck and shaking his head. "But you can feel it in the air. People are preparing… and they are frightened."

Naruto sighed. There wasn't much he could say to that.

Yahiko and Konan were in a small room, looking over charts and listening to a report of one of the gang members who didn't stay in the hideouts all the time but instead travelled collecting information and news. Even without looking too clearly, Naruto could see that they had turned the map into a strategic board, trying to figure out where the Leaf and the Sand were going head to head. "… that's at least the latest rumour. There was something about a village over there being evacuated because the Sand put something to their wells, but I'm not sure if that's accurate. The Leaf's apparently trying to do something about it," the traveller was saying.

"Would be pretty odd for the Leaf to try and counter a poison that doesn't even affect them," Konan murmured.

"In a long run it's better. If they need to use the place as a camp or a battle field, it's better for the water not to be poisoned then," Yahiko answered, setting up a marker over the village. It was a little flag which read _Probable future battlefield_. Then the orange haired leader looked up, his expression lightening. "Look what the cat dragged in! Arashi-san. We weren't expecting you for another week or two."

"I got a lift, so the return trip didn't take so long," Naruto answered. "I hear you had some trouble while I was gone, Yahiko-san."

"Nothing we couldn't handle," Yahiko answered, folding his arms. "So, tell me the good news. Tell me you have a massive summon we can use to defend ourselves."

Naruto bowed mockingly. "Yes, sir, Yahiko-sama, sir, I have a massive summon we can use to defend ourselves, sir," he repeated obediently and even threw a salute to the end. "Foxes," he then specified.

"Naturally," Yahiko snorted. "Did you go out your way to look for them specifically?"

"No, but I think I was specifically guided to them," Naruto answered, thinking about the dragon and wondering if the beast had intentionally led him to Oinarioka because of his fox mask. Or maybe it was just so that Naruto could meet creatures who had even poorer restraint than he did. "I got some help on the way. Anyway, the biggest foxes will be enough to match Hanzo's biggest lizards so we don't have to worry about that."

"That's damn good to hear," Yahiko grinned. "Now we just need to have them seen once or twice for the word to spread and we'll be taken a little more seriously around here."

"We've already gotten some new members," Konan said with a slight frown. "Now that the fighting's continued, people are a little more willing to side with us, as we are fighting for the same things they want."

"With the threat of war hanging over their heads again, they like the concept of peace a little more than they did during ceasefire," Yahiko agreed with a frown. "Right now there's nothing we can do to stop the larger nations from fighting, nor can we stop Hanzo from being a great big idiot. Let's concentrate on what we can do and that is to ensuring safety and security to everyone who wants it."

Naruto leaned forward to see the map. The fighting was still taking place further to east from them, but they all knew it was only matter of time. "Do you have enough hideouts?" he asked thoughtfully, looking down to the dots which meant Rain villages. Many of them were on the area just between the three nations. "If all the people here," he pointed, "will want to evacuate…"

"They won't," Yahiko sighed. "People of Rain are too adjusted to dying in the fights of others that most of them will do nothing but hope that they can wait it out. The ones that do want to evacuate will go to Hanzo first and take refuge in Hidden Rain. The ones that come to us are the most desperate ones as we don't have that much to offer. There will probably be some more aid requests once the fight will reach here, but not too many."

Naruto frowned. "What will _we_ do if the fight comes here?" he asked with worry. It didn't seem like Yahiko to take part in the fight.

"We will protect everyone we can and if possible we will bloodlessly stop any fights we can," Yahiko answered. "But first and foremost we will protect those who trust us to protect them. Hopefully we can establish a reputation, hopefully your summons will give us some standing… and one day people will automatically stop fighting when we arrive."

Tall order, Naruto realised immediately. A very tall order. Usually when a third - or in this case, a fourth - party joined the fight, it was merely another enemy to fight for those already fighting. Only the people of Kage level - and Madara's level - could stop a fight with their mere presence. At this point, even the Three Legendary Ninja weren't strong or well known enough to make that happen.

But… with the right use of his foxes… they might be able to do something to that effect. "Yahiko-san, you do realise you will need to make a prison?" he asked quietly. "We can't just pat to the back after we've stopped them from killing each other and send them on their merry way."

Yahiko frowned darkly, changing looks with his two friends. Apparently they had already realised it. "We have already something figured out a plan that might work to that effect," Yahiko answered, turning to him. "Do you have any skills with Fuuinjutsu, Arashi-san?"

**x**

"Storage seals?" Naruto asked, a little incredulous while he looked down to the plans Yahiko, Nagato and Konan had made for the so called prison. "That's… I don't know if that's brilliant or idiotic. Are there seals like that?"

"That's why we'd need the help of someone who is more skilled with sealing," Yahiko answered. "There are seals that can store dead human bodies, we know as much, but living human beings are a little harder to store. It would be the best way to secure possible enemies, though. We don't have the resources to create a prison actually capable of containing Shinobi, nor do we have the resources to maintain such a thing, but if we can create a scroll that can hold a prisoner in suspended animation…"

"Well, I have no idea how to do that," Naruto snorted. "The best I know is how to make a reverse summoning seal, and that only for myself and my clones."

"Why for your clones?" Konan asked curiously.

"Sometimes I leave them behind to gather nature's energy - that way I can use Senjutsu in battle," Naruto shrugged. Thinking of the ways he had done it made him think of the toads - and then the foxed. He frowned. "Some of the foxes I met know Fuuinjutsu, though," he said suddenly. Kuda for one was one of Oinarioka's best sealers. And of course there was Inari, who had created the contract for summoning foxes.

The others looked at him expectantly, and coughing softly in embarrassment, Naruto quickly bit his thumb to draw blood, before going through the hand seals. Instead of pressing the summoning seal to the floor, he pressed it to the map table, and in a poof of chakra Kuda appeared.

"Oi!" the pipe fox snarled. He was holding a noodle in his small front paws and was looking annoyed in a way only a fox could. "I was eating!"

"Sorry, sorry," Naruto answered while holding his hand out for the fox to wrap itself around. "I'll buy you another bowl one day, I promise. I need you to answer me a question now, though."

"Whaddya I look like, the answering machine?" the little fox grumbled and then looked around, noticing that they were alone. "Oh, more humans. These ones would be your little gang, then, Arashi? Hmm… interesting. Well then, what do you want?"

While Yahiko, Nagato and Konan examined the peculiar fox with curiosity, Naruto explained the plan to the fox. "We don't have any other way of storing prisoners and we have no intention of killing anyone, so this would be ideal," he finished the explanation. "Do you think it can be done?"

"A good Fuuinjutsu master can do pretty much anything they set their mind to," the pipe fox said, slithering up to Naruto's shoulders. "I wouldn't be able to create a seal like that on the fly, but I think I've heard of sealing style like this, though it was used to seal summoned animals not humans. They used to use it in a battlefield I think to stop enemies from using their summons again, or something like that…"

"But it can be done?" Naruto asked.

"Sure, with time and patience. And If I can't do it, Inari-sama can whip a seal like that with his tail hairs," Kuda snorted. "But the question is, what's in it for me?"

Naruto sighed. Of course. "Foxes," he muttered under his breath. "What do you want?"

"Now, now, Arashi, that's a bad bargaining form. You never let the other side set the terms. It should go roughly along the lines of you giving offer too low, me demanding payment too high and we eventually settling for some middle ground, which might or might not end up being more profitable for one party…"

"Trust me, Kuda, you don't want to start gambling with me. I never lose. Just say what do you want and I'll tell if I'm willing to give it," Naruto sighed.

"A sacrifice," the fox said.

Naruto frowned with slight distaste. Sacrifices. All summons needed or wanted them. Even toads needed a blood sacrifice to be summoned - though they preferred to think it was because that way they could tell their summoners apart. That wasn't it, though. Parts of humans like flesh, blood, bones and chakra, especially coming from a Shinobi, gave summoned animals energy and extended their chakra reserves - the bigger sacrifice, the better. That was why Manda demanded such huge amounts of sacrifices - with each one he grew stronger.

Foxes, Naruto found, were almost as blatant about their demand for sacrifices as snakes were. True, foxes made their desires known by bargaining whilst snakes just demanded, but it was pretty much the same thing.

"What kind?" Naruto asked after moment of silence.

"A pint of your blood," Kuda answered with a twitch of his tail.

"Out of the question. I can spare a table spoon, maybe, but no way are you getting a whole pint from me," the summoner answered and, despite his earlier arguments, the bargaining was on.

In truth, Naruto had never minded sacrificing a little for his summons. For the toads he had never really had to give the sacrifice much thought, though, as all they had ever asked from him was the blood he needed to spill in order to summon. More often than not he used the blood he had already spilled from whatever wounds he had gotten from whatever battle he had been in at the time. And even if the toads had demanded more, he would've happily given it for the help they had provided.

Foxes though had particularly painful way of extracting their sacrifices, which Naruto had already experienced once or twice. That made him a little wary about giving into the demands for sacrifices, more so when a fox wanted blood. It was a little easier with the bigger foxes because they only wanted to eat his shadow clones and consume the chakra in them, but the smaller foxes _bit_. That was especially bothersome since he no longer had the Kyuubi's enhanced healing.

The bargaining ended up in one quarter of a pint - not much for a Shinobi with Naruto's stamina, but for a fox of Kuda's size it was a lot. With a sigh Naruto pulled back the metal mesh of his under shirt to reveal his wrist and held it out of the fox. With a ferocious yelp, Kuda opened his jaws and bit.

Konan grimaced and looked away. "Is it always like this with foxes?" she asked with slightly sickly tone.

"Only with the annoying ones," Naruto sighed, wincing slightly as the pipe fox's needle sharp teeth bit deeper into his flesh. He had a feeling that if he'd ever need to summon Inari, the sacrifice he'd have to pay for the great foxes help would be much greater.

"Thanks for the meal," Kuda grinned while he pulled back. "Gimme a few days and I'll figure out the seals for you."

"Thanks," Naruto answered while holding his bleeding wrist, and with a curl of chakra smoke, the pipe fox vanished.

"Well… I think that settles that. If your foxes can figure out how to make the prison seal, then that will be one concern off our shoulders," Yahiko said, giving a look at Naruto's hand. "You, uh… might want to bandage that before you bleed all over the place, you know?"

"Yeah, probably," Naruto grimaced. "Also, just for the future reference, the more I ask from the foxes, the more they demand in return. So, let's not ask them to build us a castle in the clouds, alright? Not that they could do it, but they'd still ask king's ransoms for trying."


	11. Dawn of Akatsuki

**Dawn of Akatsuki  
**

Aside from being dog-piled by students who were all eager to show him what new tricks they had learned while he had been away and demand him to teach them some new tricks, Naruto's return to the gang happened without much of a hitch. And aside from being in the different place, the gang's life hadn't much changed since the last time he had seen it. So, the security was a bit more severe and there was more fish on the plate, but that wasn't actually a bad thing. At least there was lot of the fish and aside from getting monotonous after a while, it was still food.

Kuda managed to create the prison seal in four days, but it ended up being so complicated that it would take a while for anyone to be able to duplicate it - not to mention about being able to pain a seal like that on the fly. Naruto and Nagato were the first two in the gang to dedicate their time to it, and Nagato managed to duplicate a working Prison Scroll, as they ended up calling them, after two weeks of working on the matter. Naruto was still trying to manage it by the time Yahiko and Konan took the time to learn to make the scroll as well.

"We'll make it a standard for everyone to have at least two Prison Scrolls with them for now," Yahiko said while they studied the original scrolls Kuda had made for them and then the long list of instructions the pipe fox had added. Despite being as annoying as he was, Naruto could proudly say that Kuda definitely knew his stuff. "It will be tough getting the material for the scrolls," Yahiko continued. "But it's better to be prepared."

"We can't just start taking prisoners, though," Konan murmured.

"No, these will be just in case. If we run into a fight that we can intervene with - and if intervention stops bloodshed, of course - it will be better that we have the scrolls than that we don't have them," Yahiko said and smiled at one of the instructions. "Its good thing Kuda-sensei made the seal a Keyed one. That way we can hand over the scrolls to their countries."

Naruto blinked and then realised. Of course Yahiko wouldn't _keep_ the prisoners. That went against his beliefs and would open a can of worms their little gang wouldn't be able to handle. Naturally after sealing Shinobi of other nations, they would send the scrolls to the homes of those Shinobi. The scrolls were rather like the Chuunin-exam Heaven and Earth scrolls, and could be only opened when there was a Key present - in this case, the key was paper tag. So, when the scrolls alone were sent to the countries the prisoners they hailed from, no one would be able to release the seals without the key-tag, but they would _have_ the scrolls and the prisoners in their possession. It was much better to send the scrolls back than to seem like a kidnapper. It would also send a strong message. _Every Shinobi we encounter fighting here, we will send back in a scroll you can't open._

It was rather like taking hostages without actually taking the hostages.

"It will still make us a target," Konan mused. "If Hanzo finds out about the Prison Scrolls, he will want to get the method of making such scrolls from us."

"Or take us out so that we can't use the Prison Scrolls against him," Naruto murmured, though the idea of putting Hanzo into one of the scrolls was appealing to say at least.

"Which is why once enough of us know how to make the scroll, we will destroy the instructions. This is one skill we don't want to hand over to anyone," Yahiko agreed. "Also, for now we will keep the scrolls a secret for as long as we can. And as long as the fights won't reach here, it's unlikely we need to use them." He took one of the finished scrolls and held it open, looking thoughtful. "One thing about this concerns me, though. A seal like this will be announced Kinjutsu the moment it will become public knowledge."

"More likely they will demand it to become public knowledge and when we don't release the information, then they will announce it as a forbidden art," Naruto answered, folding his arms. "It's best I take the blame for it, if it comes to that."

"You sure?" Yahiko asked. "That would put you into a bad position."

"It's better for me to be in that position than you," Naruto answered. "We don't want to soil your reputation after all. Hanzo and Danzo and lot of other people know that I'm not from Rain and no one knows where I am originally from. So, if I will become known as the creator of a forbidden jutsu, the blame falls only on me and not on one country. And I can easily say I created the art long before I ever met you guys, which would only make you guilty of using the art, but not of creating it."

"But… the art came from the foxes," Konan said.

"If it doesn't become known as Kinjutsu, then they will get all the credit from it, of course. But I don't want them to get the reputation of Kinjutsu creators either," Naruto shook his head. "They are already frowned down upon as the nine tailed demon's kin, and I don't want to add any more dirt to that with a jutsu I asked Kuda to create for us. No, it is better that I will take the blame alone."

In the end, only the four of them learned how to make the scrolls. Afterwards Nagato destroyed the instruction scrolls with a Katon jutsu and thus the information of how to make them only resided in them. While Yahiko, Nagato and Konan took some time to make the scrolls and their key tags, Naruto turned to another project and made his personalised summoning scroll - one for his clones which he himself would start carrying, and one for the gang so that they could summon him in person.

"I didn't even know you could summon people," Nagato mused while watching Naruto carefully paint the seals in ink and blood. "That seems rather handy, though."

"Well, it's not a skill humans know. Animals created it when they created summoning contracts," Naruto answered. "I learned it from someone who learned it from an animal, he modified it for me to summon my clones and I later modified it to this array, which lets other people summon me." Actually he had learned it from animal, but it was logical that Fukasaku had learned it from another toad, so technically he wasn't lying.

"Hmm…" Nagato murmured, crouching beside him to watch him work. Then he glanced at the finished scroll, the one Naruto had made for himself. "It really seems handy, though carrying a scroll like that seems a bit problematic. It's rather big and I imagine it could get in your way in a battle."

"As long as I can summon my clones, I don't really mind," Naruto answered and glanced up. "Before you ask, Nagato-san, I can't teach this to you. These arrays are made for me specifically and they only work because I'm a summoner - that's why I didn't make them before, they wouldn't have worked. You'd need to have summoning contract first before you could be summoned like this."

"Really?" Nagato asked curiously.

"Being summoner is misleading term like that. What I am is actually honorary summon, part of the network of summoning specially used by the foxes. Just as I can summon foxes, they can summon each other - and me," Naruto shrugged. "Being part of the summon network gives me a certain sort of chakra signature that allows summoning. Of course I can't exactly summon myself, though, so I need a scroll to get my clones. And people outside the network naturally can't summon me, so there needs to be a scroll with the right signature to work as the means."

"Does this mean that summoners with same animal contract can summon each other?" Nagato asked curiously.

"I've… never actually thought of that," Naruto murmured and then snorted at the idea of summoning Jiraiya. Of course he couldn't do it anymore, but back in the future, when he had had the toad contract… "That could be awkward unless you've agreed upon it, I imagine."

Nagato nodded, still looking thoughtful. "You've had a summoning contract before, then?" he asked. "You knew this before you had the fox contract and you've obviously used it. So, you've been part of summon network before."

"Yes, I was. That contract is void now," Naruto answered with a slight frown and then pulled his brush back. He inspected the scroll once and then grinned. It was a bit messier than the one Fukasaku had once made for him, but it would work well enough. "There, done. Now you can summon my magnificent self no matter where I am. Just try avoiding meal times."

x

Waiting, Naruto thought, was the worse part of war. Especially when it was a war you yourself weren't fighting - though waiting during your own war was probably equally annoying. Most of the time he felt like he and the rest of the gang were huddling around a table, just waiting for the fight to begin, speculating when and where they'd see the first foreign Shinobi and what sort of battle it would be. Would it be between Leaf and Sand, or maybe Sand and Rock, or possibly Leaf and Rock? In a war where there were three parties and each were more than willing to attack the others, it was hard to say who was most likely to attack whom.

"Maybe they will attack each other all at once and there will be a huge messy battle between all three," someone suggested with about as much humour as kunai to the gut.

Of course, they did a whole lot more than sat around just waiting. Yahiko, Nagato and Konan made plans. They made evacuation plans, and back up plans for them, and back up plans for the back up plans. They made battle plans, retreat plans, rescue plans, diversion plans… How they remembered it all, Naruto had no idea. Lot of planning was involved nonetheless. And still somewhere along the way they had the time to set up watches, to arrange a food-stocking schedule, they accommodated everyone to those schedules and kept things generally running. They also had an information network which they were running, and all the while doing that, they were also keeping up with their relationship with some other gangs which were trying to steer away from Hanzo. And they had also their few customers, some who were having them do some tasks and others who were paying them so that they'd ensure quick evacuation and safe place if necessary. And, now, they were also doing their best to spread word about themselves and recruit new members.

If running a village was anything like running a gang, Naruto no longer wanted to be a Hokage. He himself concentrated onto things he knew how to do. It mainly involved teaching the younger ones and sparring with the elder ones. And with a war looming ahead, there were lot among them who were looking for the chance to improve and get stronger in any way possible.

Naruto was by no means a good teacher - his Taijutsu style was a patchwork of several other styles and in no way refined. He only knew few non-forbidden Ninjutsu and couldn't teach any of it to anyone as Nagato was the only one in the gang aside from him who could manage Fuuton jutsu. Senjutsu was pretty much only thing he truly mastered, and that was nothing anyone could learn in less than few months or years unless they had help like the use of frog oils. So, only thing he really could teach was the basics of chakra control.

But what he could do was offer one hell of a sparring partner to anyone looking for one. He couldn't tell anyone how to improve their style or what sort of stances were right, but he was good at helping them improve their stamina and if he used his clones, people could use as much strength against them as they could muster. It wasn't only helping them improve, but it was also helping Naruto as he came to be more familiar with the Taijutsu styles of Rain and how to fight against them.

Naruto had fun with the sparring and teaching sessions, up until the big bad three decided that they too could use some practice.

Yahiko, naturally, was the first who decided to have a go - and once they had established rules of hand-to-hand only, Naruto got his ass handed to him quite spectacularly. But then, Yahiko probably would've been a goddamned hard opponent even with Ninjutsu and all other tricks they had in their respective sleeves included. Yahiko didn't seem like much in comparison to Nagato and his fancy Rinnegan and ability to use all elements, but the orange haired Shinobi wasn't the leader just because of his personality… or leadership skills, or sheer intelligence, though those things probably had something to do with it as well.

Nagato was the next one to go and Naruto lasted splendid five minutes before meeting the ground. Fighting Nagato was like fighting Itachi who instead of being expert in Genjutsu had instead gone with Taijutsu. It was impossible to take hold of Nagato, he moved fluently and without a pause and seemed to predict every single move from his opponent. Probably did as well, with his Rinnegan open and glaring he probably perceived and internalised what he saw with detail Naruto could never hope to match. And Nagato had years of experience of using the Rinnegan in battle - and training with Jiraiya on how to use it. Fighting him, Naruto wasn't all that sure if he could've come out on top against him in all out match. Fighting the Six Paths of Pain had been difficult. But Nagato in the prime of his youth was something else.

It made him wonder if Nagato had actually made himself considerably weaker by establishing the use of his Six Paths. The Six had been incredible, but they had been also divided with each possessing one talent. Nagato on other hand mastered several _alone_. Not to mention that it was probably easier to control one's own body than it was to control six corpses from miles away.

It was both mortifying and in the same time gratifying to find that Naruto also lost to Konan. Of all three of them, she had always seemed the most set on her ways to Naruto, using her paper for anything and everything. It had seemed like incredible technique, but using one thing alone also seemed like a weakness. But she was definitely not weak. She was fast and her moves were sharp and sudden, rather like paper cuts, and what she lost with strength she gained in sheer precision. Naruto counted his blessings that she hadn't been born a Hyuuga. She would've been devastating with the Gentle Fist fighting style.

The whole ordeal made him feel a little silly for worrying after them so much and going as far as he had gone to get a summoning contract to protect them. But he knew that as good as they were, there was _always_ someone better. If it wasn't Hanzo, then it was the Kages. If not the Kages, then the future Akatsuki… And if not them, then Madara. And that was just the following twenty to thirty years. Who knew about what kind of enemies would appear later on - or what sort of villains the changes Naruto had made into the time line would create.

There was always some reason to get stronger.

And so in waiting Naruto taught, sparred, watched his very capable leaders making their plans, and hopefully got a little bit stronger.

x

The more news they got, the grimmer it seemed. The war was heating up, not only between Leaf and Sand, but also between the two of them and Rock. Cloud so far seemed happy not to take any part in the war and Mist was too busy with it's internal struggles to do much anything, but that was a small blessing for the small nations between Fire, Wind and Earth countries, who were almost literally against a rock and a hard place, about to be ground do dust.

"The Sand-nin really have unsightly ways of fighting," one of the gang members mused during one morning meal while Naruto ate his daily portion of the never-ending fish. "All those poisons. If it's not the wells, then it's the rice, if not that then it's the cattle. I hear they even replaced a medicine in a shipment with poisons!"

"Hasn't gotten them far yet, has it?" another gang member answered with a snort. "I hear there's some brilliant medic-nin in Leaf that's solved out anti-drugs for every poison Sand's sent at them… Well, at least I think it was something like that. Anyway, I think we would've heard about it by now, if Sand did manage to make their poisons work against the Leaf."

"It's still pretty nasty way of having a war," the other murmured, poking his food. "Wars ought to be fought with honest steel if they're fought at all, not with these sneaky methods…"

"Well, they're ninja. What can you do?"

Naruto blinked, glancing at them and wondering why the mention about the medic-nin sounded familiar. He didn't get the chance to ask more information about it, though, as Yahiko came to the dinner hall and clapped his hands to get their attention. "Can I have everyone's attention?" the orange haired shinobi called and immediately everyone turned to face him. "We've heard that Rock-nin have broken down the Rain border up in north."

The words were followed by some mumbling but no one spoke out and Yahiko continued. "So far they haven't sent any troops, but if the border's broken down there, it's only matter of time before it starts falling other where. And if they're coming, it's safe to say that Leaf or Sand will come to meet them," the orange haired ninja said, looking at all of them. "Nagato, Konan and I have already tried to predict the paths they will take if they're going to travel through the Rain, and three villages are on those paths."

This time there was silence, only broken by the sound of chairs being pushed back as people stood up, now in alert. Naruto stood up as well. He had never been in a real war - and the invasion by Orochimaru had been only that, an invasion, and war against one man wasn't really a war at all - but even he knew that happened to villages on the path of war machines. They got robbed, the people often were abused if not killed and at worse cases places like that were simply burned down. Not that burning down anything would be all that easy in land of perpetual rain, but the risk of death and destruction was still serious.

Yahiko smiled proudly with little bit of sadness in his eyes. "Yeah," he agreed with the unspoken assumption. "I need volunteers to go to the villages to warn them and help with possible evacuation if it should occur. It's possible that Hanzo has already foreseen this as well, but we know what he does in cases like these when civilian villages are involved."

"Not a damn thing," someone murmured. A just barely trained young Shinobi from a civilian family, Naruto remembered.

"Right," Yahiko nodded. "So, volunteers?"

Hands immediately went up, some hesitating and others immediate. Naruto glanced at the ones willing to go, and frowned. None of them were particularly good fighters, he remembered. Most weren't even average. After a moment of thought, he lifted his hand as well, making Yahiko give him a curious and mildly surprised look. "Arashi-san?"

"Send me to the immediate danger zone," Naruto simply said, and didn't specify. He didn't need to. He was one of their heaviest hitters - _the_ heaviest if one counted his summons. He wouldn't be going to help in evacuation - he would be the protection and if necessary, the distraction.

"Very well, just as long as you remember our beliefs. Everyone willing to go will sign their names here," Yahiko said while placing a piece of paper to the nearest table. "I will select teams who will go to specific villages. Any questions?"

Everyone wanted to know what villages were the ones on the Rock's path, but aside from that no one had much to say. This was what they had signed in for, after all. To protect, to stop blood shed, to try and make peace where ever it could be made. Naruto, though he felt a little ticked off that Yahiko felt the need to remind him of all people that they were never meant to kill, said nothing and instead sat down to eat his fish.

He had a feeling he would need it. After all, it was possible that he would soon be, for the first time in his life, fighting in a war.

x

Naruto had hoped that he would eventually get used to the constant rain. But each time he had to run through it, it seemed to only get more annoying. It didn't slow him or the others down much as they followed their designated team leader - Konan - towards the village closest to the broken border, but it was really, really irritating. Naruto was also missing trees and bushes and grass. How could the people of the Rain _live_ in a country like this? It felt like all the waters of the entire planet had poured down on them and then some and there wasn't anything in the scenery to lighten the mood.

Still, it wasn't the time to whine and instead of even frowning too hard, Naruto kept his eyes ahead. It was three days run to the village from the gang hideout, and Konan was hoping to cut it at least by a day, so they were keeping a good pace. For Naruto it wasn't anything he could handle, but he could tell that it was already paying its toll to the less experienced Shinobi in their midst. If their willpower hadn't been so strong, he would've summoned a fox to carry the lot of them. That, though, would've been rather counterproductive as they were trying to remain unseen.

"Those who are left behind will have just have to come behind us," Konan said during the first night which they spend in the shelter of one of those odd forest-like rock formations the constant rain had seemed to make everywhere in the country. "We can't lag, not with this. Arashi, you're up to continuing, right?"

"I could continue right this moment if I had to," Naruto answered. "But if I ran two days and nights straight, I'd drop dead once I did finally get there, so that wouldn't work out too well."

"Just as long as you're up to running first thing in the morning," she nodded and looked at the others. "Those with the strength for it will come us in the morning, others will stay behind and come a little later. Get some rest, you all."

And in the morning running continued. Two of their six-man team stayed behind and would follow in slightly more moderate pace. Naruto wasn't sure if the two that did come with him and Konan were really up to it, but they certainly seemed willing to try even though the way war long, difficult to cross and the rain was pouring down on them even harder than before.

"How will we proceed once we get there?" Naruto asked from, Konan, who was running few steps ahead of him.

"We will first inform the village of the state of affairs unless they are already informed and then offer the chance to evacuate for those who wish to do so," she answered. "There's little else we can do, except maybe in directing them in how to hide should the Rock-nin travel through or near their village."

Naruto nodded, though the more he heard of this mission, the less he liked it. It only then dawned to him how little Shinobi thought about the civilians during their wars and fights. Naruto had lost count with how many villages and neighbourhoods he himself had devastated fighting against this or that enemy. Hell, Pain had brought the entire Hidden Leaf to ground and not only lot of ninja died during that event, but even more civilians. The Great Shinobi Wars all ran across the maps unchecked and uncaring of the civilians that were in their way - raping the towns and villages that they crossed on their way of all food and gear.

In only distant thought he wondered what the Rain Country's Daimyo thought of this. Or… did the country actually _have_ a Lord? So far it had seemed like Hanzo ruled the entire nation without argument from anyone - hell, he had put the little country into economically sealed _box_ with his border walls and no one but Yahiko had argued against that. If the place did have a lord, he certainly didn't seem to have much power.

But then, Daimyos never really seemed to have power. He had never heard of the Fire Country's Lord doing much anything or making any decisions about the country. It was the Hokage who made the deals and treaties and arranged the co-work between allied nations, it was the Hokage who seemed to run everything. It was also the Hokage who decided whether or not there was a war, not the Lord.

But then, a Kage could have a Daimyo killed and replaced in a heart beat. That alone made Daimyo's seat mighty unstable.

When they came to the village, it was dark and the only light that could be seen in the thick rain was the lights inside houses, hidden behind curtains and shutters. Konan inspected the village once with Naruto on her heels and once they were certain that the village was untouched, she sent Naruto and one of the other of their gang to watch duty while she and the other one would go around village, rousing people.

Naruto didn't argue against the watch duty. He was too rough and too foreign for this sort of delicate business - and the fact that he wore a mask now almost constantly didn't help - so he wouldn't be much help in rousing the village. He didn't know these people, so he wouldn't know what motivated them either. Konan would do better job at it than he'd ever could. Besides, with Rock looming about the village, watching for any possible assailants was pretty important too.

x

"Unfair," the guy Naruto was out on the watch, Shoya, murmured when Naruto pulled out his almost-orange umbrella from the pack which held the enormous clone-summoning scroll and his gear.

The Fox Sage stuck out his tongue and grinned. "Common sense," he answered and happily pushed the paper umbrella open. The pitter-patter against the oiled paper was certainly much nicer sound than the gloomy endless sound of water hitting the puddles in the ground. "I don't get why you don't have umbrellas or hats or anything like that when it's raining constantly around here."

"Hmph. We have much more important stuff to use our little money to, and we are strong enough to handle the rain without any aids like that," Shoya answered, folding his arms and giving him a judging look. "What kind of ninja wears orange anyway? You only need orange sandals and you'd be wearing nothing but."

"Shut up. Orange is an awesome colour," Naruto huffed before frowning, his hand darting to his kunai pouch. There was someone near by.

"It's a good question," unfamiliar voice said. "What kind of ninja wears orange? A very foolish one, I think."

There were two fast splashes - feet hitting the ground - and then a whisk as hand came forward. Naruto lifted his hand automatically in guard and kunai hit against a sword, making metallic cling and then grinding sound as the assailant tried to pressure him to lower his hand. "Or one who invites an attack," Naruto answered cheerfully while taking in the masked face and Rock head band. "Hello. A scout, I presume?"

The slightly surprised Rock-nin grunted and then grinned behind his mask. "Or a first foot soldier of an invasion force," he answered. "I could have a hundred men behind my back."

"Few of those hundred men would've attacked my friend by now," Naruto nodded towards Shoya, who had taken out two long kunai and was getting ready to attack. Naruto glanced at him before shifting closer and pushing the Rock-nin from him and throwing the umbrella to the air. Before it even hit the ground, his kunai was ringing against the Rock-nin's sword and with few moves from Frog katas he had the man pinned to the ground. "Too hasty," Naruto said to him while holding a kunai to the man's throat and reaching to take the sword from his hands. "You really should see what you're up against before you go attacking people."

"I got blinded by the orange robe," the Rock-nin muttered with obvious dismay and glared at Naruto who was calmly straddling him and holding him down with his weight. "Because seriously, only idiot would wear orange."

"Idiot, probably. But you have to admit, it takes more than idiot to survive to my age whilst wearing orange," Naruto answered solemnly. He was already eighteen, for ninja that was like middle age. "Nu-uh," he said when the Rock-nin tried to move and pressed the kunai tighter against his throat. Just to be safe side, he shifted so that his knees were pressing against the shinobi's upper arms, making him unable to move them. "You aren't going anywhere just yet."

"What will we do with him?" Shoya asked. "We can't let him go, he'd run right back to the Rock-nin and tell them we're here."

"Yes, we can't have that," Naruto nodded while the Rock-nin looked up to them with sudden worry. "Don't worry," Naruto said while reaching back and taking out standard sized scroll from his kunai pouch. He held the scroll up with a grin, a little excited to be the first to use a Prison Scroll. "This won't hurt a bit."

Before he could use the scroll, however, the Shinobi twisted underneath him, and pulled out something. At first Naruto thought it was a scroll of weapon of something - but it was a flare. With a sharp tug on a string, the Rock-nin send a red signal fire flying past Naruto and up to the sky, where it lit the rain and the clouds for a moment and then started to die.

"Well… shit," Shoya muttered, staring up at the fading light.

With a curse Naruto jumped back from the grinning Rock-nin. He threw the prison scroll open like uncurling a whip and with a tug of his hand had the Rock-nin wrapped in it. There was a poof of chakra and then the scroll pulled itself shut with a snap, the scout safely contained inside it. Naruto snatched the scroll from the air before it even stopped spinning midair, and thrust it into his pouch.

"Go and find Konan-san," he said Shoya while picking up his umbrella and tenderly brushing off what little dirt that had stuck to the oiled paper and examining a rip near the edge. He really shouldn't treat it so roughly, it was only made of paper and wood after all. "Tell them we're about to have some company."

x

Konan didn't have the chance to reach Naruto before he was already being greeted by a four-man cell of Rock-nin - teacher and three students by the looks of it. While Naruto wondered about the universality of ninja teams, the team was already pulling out weapons. "Where is Osakini-san?" a female student of the team demanded to know, clenching onto her short knifes tightly. "What did you do with him?"

"We compared weapon sizes and then I rolled him in the puddles for a moment," Naruto answered flatly while pulling his umbrella shut with a mournful sigh. It wouldn't be much use in a fight and he didn't want to damage it any further. "Don't worry, though. I was gentle."

"We'd appreciate it if you'd return him to us," the team's leader said while holding up a sleek sword.

"No can do," Naruto answered while looking between the four of them. He only had two more prison scrolls, so he wouldn't be able to contain them all. Best would be to go after the teacher, he seemed to be the strongest of the lot - and fighting against kids just seemed like bad form. "Your buddy attacked me and that makes me a little prejudice against people."

"Then we will force you to return him to us!" the girl yelled and attacked. Naruto blinked with surprise while the team's teacher called her to stop. Must be a Genin, the Fox Sage thought a little distantly while parrying her attack, grabbing hold of her wrist and swiftly unarming her. Yep, definitely a Genin. What were they _doing_ sending Genin into hostile territory?

"You know, a head start isn't always a good thing," Naruto said to the girl while pulling her hand up so that she had to balance on the tip of her toes. It wouldn't hurt her too much, but it would keep her from trying to attack again, probably. "You might be way over your head, you know."

"Like orange idiot like you would know anything about fighting!" she growled while pulling out another knife and trying to hit Naruto with it. It was easy task taking the knife from her, and snatching her wrist. Then, holding both of her wrists in one hand, the blonde Sage gave the girl a look of consideration. He now had odd feeling of what Jiraiya must've felt that time Naruto had tried to attack him. Several times, actually.

"You bastard! Let her go!" he girl's team mate yelled, but was held back by their teacher who was now looking at Naruto with obvious worry. But then, Naruto was holding one of his students more or less a hostage - and the fact that he was holding not only one but two of the girl's knifes in his free hand probably looked pretty bad.

Naruto swallowed. He had never really fought against people so much weaker than himself. The teacher of the team might've been strong and given chance would've given him a run for his money, but the kids definitely weren't he had no idea what he was supposed to do.

Thankfully Konan came to save him. "Arashi-san!" she yelled as she jumped to join Naruto and the four Rock-nin on the rainy field. "What are you doing?"

"Bullying little kids?" he offered awkwardly and glanced at the girl he was holding. "It feels like I'm bullying little kids. You know, no one actually told me what to do in situation like this." There was no battle to be stopped and no massacre to be prevented and instead these guys wanted to fight _him_ - except with the kids there that he was afraid he'd seriously hurt them if he'd try. And he didn't want to fight in either case, except it didn't feel like the girl had given him much choice but to take her a hostage. "This makes me feel like I'm the _bad guy_. I don't like it."

She gave him a look of mixed confusion and amusement and shook her head. "Just let her go," she said slowly and looked at the Rock-nin. "Shoya said you apprehended a scout that sent out a flare," she murmured while Naruto released the girl who, with a little bewildered look, ran back to her team. "Are these the only ones that came?"

"The only ones or the first ones," Naruto answered with a mildly relieved tone. It was nice that someone knew what to do. He was still too new to this fighting a war without fighting thing that he couldn't be really sure. He glanced at her. "The evacuation?"

She shook her head grimly. "Only few are even remotely interested in leaving and they think there is no hurry and might only consider starting to pack in the morning. They don't believe that anyone will attack their remote village," she frowned at the Rock-nin who were checking that their team mate was alright and keeping watchful eye on them. "I guess you proved them wrong."

"Sorry, sorry," Naruto sighed. "I should've known he'd have a signal flare."

"Excuse me?" the leader of the Rock-nin team lifted his hand. "Evacuation?"

"There's a civilian village ahead," Konan answered, making Naruto a little confused about why she was talking with the enemy. Then he realised - they weren't the enemy. Not for them. "We're trying to convince the people to leave before main force of your army will arrive."

"Oh?" the elder of the four Rock-nin murmured with mild surprise.

"Wait, you're not here to fight us?" one of the boys in the man's team asked.

"No," Konan answered, giving Naruto a mild glare. "We are not. Arashi-san, if you would… the scroll?"

"They attacked me first," he murmured a little defensively while pulling out the Prison Scroll and handing it to her.

"I suppose we need to teach you some of our tactics about how to handle a situation like that," she said with a sigh. With a shake of her head, she pulled the scroll open and took out a key tag. Slapping it against a square drawn into the scroll, she murmured, "Release," and freed the scout Naruto had imprisoned from the scroll. Disoriented, the man fell to the ground, looking around with confusion. "There," she said and looked down to the scout. "Go join your people."

"You're not Shinobi from the Village Hidden in Rain," the leader of the Rock-nin team said while the confused scout scrambled back to join the ninja of his village. "I've fought their ninja before and this certainly isn't among their tactics."

"We're part of an independent group," Konan nodded while pulling the release tag of the scroll and then handing the scroll back to Naruto "We only wish to stop the killing and the useless bloodshed."

"What weak ideals," the sullen girl muttered while rubbing her wrists and glaring at masked Naruto.

"The weak ideals had your ass handed to you, little missy," Naruto answered cheerfully while looking at the scroll. The seal from it was gone, but the scroll could be used to make another seal, so it was alright. After rolling it shut, he pushed it back into his pouch. "So mind your mouth."

"What is the name of your group?" the leader of the Rock-nin team asked curiously.

Konan paused and then said. "Akatsuki."

Thankfully, no one noticed Naruto shudder and if they did, they probably thought it was because of the rain.

x

Naruto knew how easy it was to think of the enemy as being inhuman, stupid and evil. He had enough enemies for that - and he had been the enemy of so many people that the lesson had been almost engraved to his very core. Still, in the fear of future he too had fallen into that way of thinking - of sectioning the entire world into _us_ and the _enemy_. It was _us_ which meant Yahiko's gang - and in lesser degree the Leaf and the Country of Fire - and then there was the enemy, the everyone else, the _them_. The great big evil world threatening to swallow them whole and turn Nagato into world-killing monster.

It was a novel experience to find himself realising that he was in a standing where _no one_ was truly an enemy. Because before Yahiko's death and Madara's meddling, that was what Akatsuki had been. An organisation that saw no enemies. "Enemies or allies are all notions made for war and for separating people from each other. For making those opposing you seen less human. But in the end, people are just people. Shinobi of the Rock, of the Leaf, of the Sand and of the Rain. Just people," Konan shrugged. "It's only the misfortune of being born in a different place and a label that makes them an _enemy_ of anyone."

The purity of Akatsuki - the current Akatsuki - was a little astonishing. Sure, Naruto had known their policies before. No killing and no fighting with the only goal being peace. But _saying _and _hearing_ it was different than _witnessing_ it. Konan, the mistress of paper who had been so widely feared in the future, had _neutralised_ all will to fight in the Rock-nin with few explanations alone.

"You know, the people who really want to fight in wars are pretty rare. Especially among foot soldiers," she said as they later organised the evacuation of the few families who had opted to leave their village. "And even fewer want to kill innocents. Of course there are always those who simply do not care, but those are the insane ones who are beyond change. In reality, the so called Shinobi way is never going to be the _human_ way. Humans are many things, but no one is born a monster."

Someone are forcibly made monsters afterwards, Naruto thought with mild sadness, thinking of himself and Gaara and the other Jinchuuriki. Made demons not by their tenants, but by humans and their treatment. "Believe in the good of all humanity, huh?" he murmured a little wistfully. He had too, once. Still did in some degree, but he had witnessed too much for blind belief anymore. He had been betrayed too many times and he had seen people lose their faith even more times. It was hard to believe anymore, especially since he had never found the answer of how to achieve peace. "You make me a little shamed of myself, Konan-san."

"Yes, well. Nothing is perfect," she sighed. "But as long as we remember that hate only brings more hate and death only motivates more death, we're on the right track. We cannot _stop_ ourselves from feeling hate or anger, but best we can do is try and not make people hate _us_. That's what Yahiko believes in anyway."

"No one can please everyone all the time," Naruto murmured warningly. He should know, he had certainly tried.

"But people can please some people some of the time. That's better than nothing at all, and certainly better than displeasing everyone all the time," she smiled and then started explaining the battle tactics of their gang to him, and how to deal with the sort of situation he had ran into.

While saving the tactics as well as he could into his memory - it wasn't that difficult thankfully - Naruto wondered about the current Akatsuki and compared it into the future one. They were as far from each other as the day and night. The current Akatsuki was kinder and gentler than he could've ever imagined _any_ organisation to be. The future however was an organisation of S-class criminals, all with massacres behind them. If he hadn't known where and how it all had gone so wrong, he would've wondered of something so good could turn into something so bad.

But then it had to be something _very_ good to make something so horrid. When something as pure as the current Akatsuki was left in the gutter, heart broken, like Nagato had been after Yahiko's death, it could only lead into something horrible. Turning one absolute upside down created another, reverse absolute, apparently. Just like showing kindness and understanding to a monster like Gaara could lead into the birth of the greatest Kazekage ever seen.

Naruto frowned, knowing with certainty that he'd fight twice as hard to keep Akatsuki as it was and never let its beliefs be stained. He had no idea how he would do it or if he could even do anything at all, but he would definitely try. And for as long as Akatsuki would remain as it was now, Naruto would be part of it.

"Did Yahiko-san come up with all of this?" he asked quietly.

"He and Nagato," Konan said with a smile, realising that he wasn't talking about the battle tactics they had been discussing. "Those two complete each other's ideals and beliefs. I try to add whatever I can but best I can do is to follow and see that they don't get too far a head of themselves. They have big dreams, those two. And will to make them true."

Naruto smiled. "That they do," he murmured and for a moment let himself imagine what it would be like, if they all really did come true. It was a dream he'd fight hard and long and to his dying breath to see come reality.

xx

For a while I thought about changing the name of Yahiko's group into something else, I even researched it and contemplated some names. I decided to keep the original in the end because I figured the name was probably Nagato's or Yahiko's invention, not Madara's and that the future Akatsuki as derivation of the past Akatsuki makes more sense. They even wore similar cloaks, except the future Akatsuki has the clouds and doesn't have the utility belts. Also, every name I came up with sounded Mary Sueish in my head, if an organisation can be a Mary Sue...


	12. Fox and Toad

**Fox and Toad  
**

Week after they had evacuated the few people who had wanted to get out of the way of the war, the war begun. Shinobi of the Sand rammed right through the wall in the south and two days later the two parties went head to head in a plain of Raincurrent. Naruto and the three leaders of Akatsuki send their clones to witness the fight, but there was nothing they could do to stop it. There were too many fighters fighting too ferociously. All they could've done was to add into the chaos.

It was only the first of many upcoming battles. The Akatsuki only interfered with the smaller battles they knew they could handle, and stopped them bloodlessly by apprehending the fighters and sealing them. Naruto's big foxes made their first appearance around this time, scattering away handful of Shinobi from Rock and Sand and sending them their respective camps. He became quickly known around the fighting parties, he and the Akatsuki which he served. It was both good and bad. Good, because it brought them fame and thus the gang got more volunteers - their services were being asked more often too. Bad, because as the strongest fighters in both sides begun to cause trouble just to get a swing at him - and it was only matter of time before Hanzo would come after the gang again.

It was also around those times, Naruto and Nagato started to make handful of clones each day so that they could spend the day making Prison Scrolls. With the fights, the demand for them sky rocketed and within the first week of fighting, they sealed twenty four Rock Shinobi and thirty eight Sand Shinobi. The scrolls were handed to their respective country men, but the Akatsuki didn't release the key tags to the scrolls. "Not before the war is over," Yahiko said. It didn't make them exactly popular among the Shinobi of the larger nations, but with a Sage, a Rinnegan user and a Suiton master like Yahiko on their side, no one came after them for the key tags. Yet.

Hanzo interfered with some of the fighting, but only when it got too close to the Village Hidden in Rain or some other key location in the country. Aside from that he seemed content letting the two sides battle each other to their heart's content, merely having his spies watching them from afar. Yahiko suspected that he was waiting for them to tire and then he'd take them both out, but if that was his plan, it would take a while. Each day both countries send more people into Rain in hopes of pushing right through the enemy force and into the enemy territory.

Month into the fights between Rock and Sand, Leaf joined the melee. The wall was broken in the east with a large summon and then the chaos of war got a new, a slightly more ferocious feel. Whatever Sand's or Rock's goal was it was hard to tell - aside from the most obvious invasion - but with Leaf it was plain and clear. They targeted Sand first and foremost, quite obviously vengeful for the poison campaign. Rock was quick to use this to the advantage and try and start a sort of alliance with Leaf, but for now Leaf seemed only intent on paying Sand back in kind for what their poisons had done.

"Messy, so very messy," Naruto muttered to himself as one of the clones he had sent to watch the fighting was dispersed and he got the memories. "It's getting more chaotic by the day."

"It was like this before the ceasefire too. They'd go into these fighting spurts, everyone against everyone without much restraint," Yahiko sighed, rubbing his forehead. He looked tired, but after all the fighting and evacuating they had done, it was no wonder. "They'll tire out soon or send in more people. Eventually they will either advance, or pull back depending on how the fight goes. If they pull back, they either will pull back completely or they will send more people…"

"It would be easier for us if one of them would occupy Rain, there would be less fighting inside our borders," Nagato murmured. "But that won't happen; the other nations won't let any one of them occupy the country. The tactical advantage is too great - and there is Hanzo to consider too. Right now he's not taking much action because there is little he can do against Shinobi of three nations - but if there is only the one, he will surely fight to get them out."

"That's what happened with Leaf," Yahiko nodded and when Naruto merely blinked with confusion, he shrugged. "When we were kids, Leaf occupied Rain for almost two years. Hanzo and his people eventually killed them all except for the Three Legendary Ninja and that was that. No one has even tried to occupy the country since - the amount of people Leaf lost makes them all wary."

Naruto grimaced. He hadn't known Leaf had occupied Rain once - though it made sense. It also made sense why there was such a weight in the title of the Three Great Ninja. Of an entire _occupation force_ they had been the only ones to survive. The thought put a whole new respect of Hanzo into Naruto.

"What will we do?" Konan asked quietly.

"There's nothing we can do," Yahiko snorted, leaning back and folding his arms. "The only way we could do any difference in this war would be if we managed to capture really important Shinobi from all three sides and seal them. But that's not happening - and I don't much like the thought of using hostages to stop this war. It would be bloodless victory and it would save many lives, but it's still morally questionable."

Naruto looked between the grim faced leaders and sighed. He wished he had something he could add, some titbit of wisdom he could share, but he didn't. This was so beyond his talents that it wasn't even funny.

Nagato frowned. "You know, if we want to make peace in a world like this, we need to stay on this world," he said quietly. "Using hostages is a despicable method, yes, but… it might be the only one we have."

"It would make us seem too much like a terrorist group and that's not what I want," Yahiko answered. "No. I don't want us to break our morals, not even for this. It's not worth the risk to go after Shinobi like that in any case. And the only way we could pull a trick like this off would be if we somehow managed to capture the Kages of all three nations, and that is not happening anytime soon." He shook his head. "We will continue as we have so far. Evacuate or protect civilians when ever we can, tend to the wounded if it's possible, and stop fighting where ever we can. It might no bring grand results, but for now it's all we can do."

**x**

When a word came about a summon battle taking place right next to a civilian town, Yahiko immediately send Naruto to protect the town. Naruto, who was now used to being dispatched quickly, immediately got ready. In practiced manner, he made two clones to gather nature's energy, stored ten Prison Scrolls to his utility belt which had been modified to carry a lot of them, and after donning his clone-summon scroll and his faithful umbrella, he was ready to go. With one of his fastest foxes - Susumeru, a black female fox - giving him a ride he was soon racing hurriedly towards the town and hoping that he wouldn't get there too late. There had been plenty of times when he had been.

The war was going and going, and though they did best they could, all they could was either protect and prevent or pick up the pieces afterwards. Thankfully the further the war went, the more volunteers they got and among the fighters and the civilians, there were even few doctors. Yahiko had turned two of the many hideouts into field hospitals for both civilians and so called enemy Shinobi, and like so they managed to save the lives abandoned by others. Of course all Shinobi healed in hospitals were eventually sealed in prison scrolls - unless they wanted to switch sides - but at least they _lived_.

Naruto, though, didn't have to worry about that. He was usually more of a shield than anything else in Akatsuki. He was sent when ever the fights got too close to civilian settlements, or when his mere presence could put an end to bloodshed - and with his foxes becoming more and more famous, only the strongest and most headstrong dared to temp him to summon them. Usually when he arrived, the fight simply moved to a safe distance and continued with him and his foxes playing the part of disgruntled referee. But at least that way they killed each other and not innocent bystanders.

"Makes me wonder why the dragon didn't guide you to a dog summon," Gizensha had muttered in annoyance the fourth time they merely sat and watch how other people fought amongst themselves. "What you need is a guard dog. Not a fox."

"Now, now," Naruto had answered with mock cheer. "You and your lot are becoming a symbol of peace. Forced peace maybe, but peace is peace. That should make Inari-sama happy."

"Him, yes. I'm getting a little annoyed though."

The only time Naruto summoned Gizensha or Koukatsu, his biggest and most ferocious summons, was when he needed to intimidate, though. When he wanted to put an end to a fight, he summoned Hissori. She was a yellow fox about half the size of Gizensha and Koukatsu, and not a particularly strong physical fighter. What she was, however, was an expert in battle Genjutsu and Naruto found that tricking people into submission by Genjutsu was much easier than fighting them to it. Also safer, considering the no-kill policy of the Akatsuki.

He hadn't yet had to deal with a summon battle though. Worse he had interfered with had been a battle between two Ninjutsu masters - he had needed to summon Zurin and Hissori both to put an end to it and keep the two from destroying a settlement near by.

"Arashi, I can smell them," Susumeru interrupted his thoughts. "Chakra - and a lion."

"Lion?" Naruto asked with worry. He hadn't heard of lion summons before - but then he hadn't heard of fox summons either before getting his contract. There were probably some four dozen summon types he had never even considered. "Can you smell the other one? There should be another."

"No, I can't smell it. The smell fades into the background," she answered with a growl. "I think it's an amphibian."

"Hanzo?" Naruto asked sharply. Salamanders were amphibian, right?

"I'm not sure. But the lion at least is a big one. I think you ought to get ready to summon someone a lot bigger than me."

"Shit," Naruto murmured. "Just get me there as quick as possible so that I can see who it is." If it was Hanzo, there was a chance that he wouldn't need to fight at all. Hanzo had a strange ways of fighting like that and it was hard to tell if the man wanted a fight or not. If the man would want a battle and Naruto would have to fight him alone without the backing of Yahiko, Nagato and Konan, he would need to summon Gizensha and probably Zurin and on top of that he would need to summon a clone to get into the Sage mode. Size alone wasn't good enough against Hanzo and his salamanders after all - they usually came with Ninjutsu affinity and Hanzo himself was no pushover. And if it wasn't Hanzo… seeing what kind of summons he was dealing with would help.

"Right," Susumeru growled and jumped ahead. "Hold on!"

Naruto clutched onto her fur tightly as she reached ahead faster than any human or possibly any fox either could manage. It made him glad for the fox mask as it protected his eyes from the wind, though he still had to wonder if he would need to get goggles to handle Susumeru's speed. Before he even finished the thought, the village came into his view - and behind it he could see the summons.

A great brown lion, as tall as Gizensha and a lot bulkier, was roaring away, the sound making the ground shudder. Naruto got a feeling that it was a wind-type; either that or it used sound waves or something like that. He, however, didn't get the chance to think too deeply into that before he saw the summon the lion was up against.

It was Gamabunta.

**x**

There was probably a more diplomatic way of interfering with a summon battle… but Naruto had never been particularly subtle person. The moment he saw Gamabunta, the reaction was immediately. His thumb already bleeding, his hands flashed through the seals while Susumeru ran through the civilian village, jumping over the screaming people who were so much in haste to run away from the gigantic summons that they didn't even notice the fox. The moment they were on the other side, Naruto jumped off the fox's back and slammed his hand to the ground.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" he called out while pushing his chakra to the summoning, calling for the one summon who was becoming his signature. The ground around him seemed to explode and he was almost thrown in to air as Gizensha appeared underneath him. If he hadn't yet caught the attention of the two summoners, he had it now.

"What is it _now_? Oh, oh, does this mean we're _actually_ going to do battle this time?" Gizensha asked excitedly as he noticed the two other summons. In the ground, Susumeru turned around and then jumped to the greater fox's back. Being only tall enough for her back to reach Naruto's shoulder, she was still small enough for Gizensha not to even notice it. The great fox snarled with eagerness. "I could use a battle right about now."

"Hopefully not, this is one guy I don't want to fight," Naruto answered while jumping up to the skull adorning his signature summon's head. From there he could see the other two summoners. By the looks of the wardrobe and the style of head gear, the summoner of the lion was a Sand-nin. Not surprising if it really did have a wind affinity. The toad's summoner wasn't a surprise, but Naruto was mildly shocked to see that Jiraiya wasn't alone. Minato was with him.

"Aw, crap," he could hear the Sand-nin groaning. "It's the Fox Sage."

"Oh, that's him?" the lion asked curiously, turning his deep green eyes on Naruto. It didn't look too impressed. "Well… he fits the part," the enormous summon said rather lamely.

"Hello to you too!" Naruto waved happily while curious Susumeru climbed to Gizensha's head as well to see what was going to happen. Naruto had to take support from the ram skull's horns to stay steady when the black female pushed against him, but he doubted it lessened his coolness factor that much. "Don't mind me, you lot, I'm just here to make sure you don't do anything to the village."

"What, really?" Gizensha muttered with disappointment. "And here I thought we'd actually do something for a change."

"Who the hell are you?" Jiraiya called to him, holding his hands around his mouth to make the voice carry over the rain and the distance.

"Jiraiya-san, I'm heartbroken!" Naruto answered, though it wasn't a surprise. Their meeting had only lasted few hours and Jiraiya had gotten pretty drunk towards the end. And even if he had remembered, Naruto had changed clothes since - and gotten rid of a very ugly wig. The only thing which was the same was the fox mask, and even it had changed. The constant rain had sapped away some of the vividness of the red colour, making it paler much to Naruto's dismay. "You even bought me a drink and you've forgotten me already?"

"It's Arashi-san from the Carnival!" Minato called with surprise. "Hey, Arashi-san! What are you doing here?"

"Hiya there, Minato-kun!" Naruto waved at him. "Nice to see you looking so well. I work around here these days, as a peace keeper of sort."

"Arashi, from the Carnival - you're the guy who kept stalking us with the clones? Really? I didn't know you could summon! You work for Hidden Rain now, or something?" Jiraiya asked with tone of confusion in his yelling. "That's a bit of an upgrade from working as the bodyguard in a freak show, isn't it?"

"Work for Hidden Rain? In your bleeding dreams!" Naruto answered. "Hanzo's a pain in the ass! I work for Yahiko of Akatsuki!"

"Yahiko of _what_?"

"Akatsuki!"

"You know, Arashi, if you keep yelling next to my goddamned ear, I'm going to eat you!" Gizensha growled at him.

"I concur," Susumeru agreed, wincing a little.

"Sorry, sorry," Naruto said, absently petting the said ear - which was big enough for him to use as a cave. "Just hold it down for a moment, or something. This might take a while and I can't exactly go over there, now can I? And Susumeru, you can go if you want to." He drew a deep breath and continued yelling. "Are you two going to try and kill each other?" he asked from Jiraiya and the Sand-nin while Susumeru rolled her eyes and settled down beside him to listen, her ears held back against her head. "Because I would prefer you'd put a little bit distance between yourself and the village. You're creeping out the villagers!"

"No can do - there's a ravine next to this place!" Jiraiya answered, pointing a little further away from the settlement.

"You nancy can't handle a little hole in the ground?"

"It's the size of the goddamned village!"

Naruto grinned. This reminded him of the old times - the future old times. Back when he and Jiraiya had been travelling and yelling at each other all the time. "The village isn't that big!" he called back cheerfully. The last time they had met, he had been still too out of it to appreciate the experience to the fullest, but now he was a little more stable and could enjoy it like he should. Or, like he once would've.

"Are you two going to fight or something, because I wouldn't mind watching you two idiots killing each other!" the Sand-nin called at them in mild irritation.

"No killing, Akatsuki policy!" Naruto answered happily.

"Interesting policies you got!" Jiraiya called to him. "Hold that thought, Arashi-san, I'll get right back to you once I've turned this Sand idiot into pile of glass!"

"Who are you going to turn into what, you slime brained toad -" the Sand-nin's words where drowned into the sound of Jiraiya's and Minato's combined fire technique and the fight was on again. The Lion drew a deep breath and with a roar split the fire in half and then the two summons were at each other, Gamabunta with his knife and the lion with claws and teeth. From their heads their respective summoners threw Ninjutsu at each other, the glow of fire and cut of wind disturbing the usual patterns of the rain and making the air around them turn smoky and misty.

"Alright," Naruto said as the battle raged on. Gamabunta was trying to keep the fight away from the village but the Lion didn't seem to particularly care where it was roaring, and the cutting winds issued from its mouth came dangerously close to the village. "Time to do my thing. Gizensha, you any good with water techniques?"

"Not really. I'm better with Earth Release," the fox answered. "Why?"

"I was thinking we could make ice wall between those two and the village, but earth works probably better. Can you do it or do I need to summon Zurui?"

"I think can manage one little wall," the fox grumbled and with Naruto and curious Susumeru watching, he started to work.

**x**

The fight ended with Jiraiya and Minato victorious and Naruto successfully preventing the village from getting into danger, but despite the cheerful argument of earlier, the fight had been a serious one and neither Jiraiya nor Minato came out unscathed. As the wounded Sand lion hurriedly carried away its summoner, Gamabunta carefully placed bleeding Jiraiya down so that Minato could tend to a particularly deep wound the man had gotten to the side of his stomach.

After dismissing bored Gizensha, Naruto made his way to the two Leaf-nin with Susumeru, who had decided to stick around to offer Naruto a lift back to the Akatsuki hideout - probably because she was curious about what would follow. "Damn Sand-nin and their damned puppetry…" Jiraiya was grumbling while undressing his mesh shirt. There were few cuts here and there, some old and some new, but the worse one was the gash along his stomach, reaching towards his hip. The injury had been issued by a pair of extra arms the Sand-nin had been hiding under his cloak, which he had been controlling with chakra strings. Not exactly a subtle secret technique, but it had caught Jiraiya just in time to prevent him landing a killing blow on the Sand summoner. "What kind of Ninja has summons _and_ puppetry?"

"A versatile one," Naruto answered while holding his umbrella up so that less injured Minato could inspect Jiraiya's wound. "No poison, I hope?"

"Tsunade's injected me with half million counter poisons, and with the fever I got those damn drugs they better work now, goddamnit," the white haired man muttered and looked up to him suspiciously. "You really the same guy we met in the Carnival almost a year back? How the hell did you end up here? How do you go from working in a _Carnival_ to this? Whatever it is you're doing right now."

"People like me either become civilians, or find new people to answer to. Yahiko and his group, the Akatsuki, are the best I think I could ever hope to find," Naruto shrugged, crouching down beside the two Leaf-nin, a little amused about how grumpy the man was acting. "What are you two doing here? And where's the rest of your team? I didn't think they sent incomplete teams to the front lines - especially ones with under trained members."

"I'm not that under trained," Minato grumbled while peering at Jiraiya's wound. "I don't think it has poison in it."

"We'll know soon enough," Jiraiya muttered and looked at Naruto. "Jojoni and Chougou are back at the Leaf, they're still Genin so it's not safe to have them here. They're not yet skilled enough to manage. Me and Minato, though, we have a secret mission," he grinned, before glancing at Susumeru who was leaning in to have a look. "So. The Fox Sage?" he asked. "Since when?"

Naruto shrugged, reaching his free hand up to scratch along Susumeru's throat. "Since I came here. Hanzo's doing, that one. Not that I mind, there are worse titles to have," he tilted his head as Minato rummaged through his pouches. "You looking for bandages?" he asked. Jiraiya's wound certainly needed something to stop the bleeding, even if they weren't severe otherwise. "I can give you some if you don't have any."

"I'd appreciate it. I think I'm all out. Chougou's usually the one carrying our medical supplies," the blonde boy answered.

Nodding, Naruto reached for his own pouch and brought out one of his few storage scrolls. He spread it to the moist ground beside Jiraiya and after biting his thumb so that it bled, he released the storage seal. A full med-kit appeared in curl of chakra smoke. "Use whatever you need," he said and quickly Minato reached for the antiseptics.

"You're pretty well stocked," Jiraiya commented.

"Lately I've spend lot of time collecting wounded from battle fields. It helps to have good first-aid kit at hand," the fox sage answered, watching how Minato disinfected Jiraiya's wound and then went about bandaging it. "Mostly I just interfere with the fighting, though. Me and the rest of Akatsuki. You've probably seen our handiwork. So far I've sealed at least twenty Leaf Shinobi. Who knows how many the others have sealed."

"Wait, you're the one behind those Prison Scrolls?" Jiraiya asked, narrowing his eyes. "We've been trying to break the seals for weeks now without much luck. What is up with that anyway? Why make a seal like that? It's like you're holding them hostage."

Naruto shrugged. "I suppose one could see it like that. For us each sealed person is a person saved. They won't be returning to the battle fields when they're sealed - they're not going to kill anymore people, nor are they in danger of being killed. Well, not unless you destroy the scrolls," he said. "Once the war is over, the keys for releasing the people in Prison Scrolls will be released. You will get your people back. Eventually."

"And while they're in the seals, they're fine?" Jiraiya asked dubiously, wincing as Minato tightened the bandages and then tied them up. "Ow. You have all the finesse of a butcher, Minato," the Toad Sage whined to his student.

"Suck it up, Jiraiya-sensei," the boy answered before turning to inspect his own wounds. They were cuts and bruises mostly.

"Once the people in the scrolls are released, it will be as if nothing had happened for them. Inside the scrolls they are like sealed out of time itself," Naruto snorted while watching the pair of them. "So they haven't felt any hunger or anything. They will be in the exact same state they were when they were sealed."

"So, if you sealed someone now and then released them ten years later, they'd be the exact same age?" Jiraiya asked thoughtfully.

"Possibly, but it is a _Prison Scroll_. It's not exactly comfortable way of spending time," the Fox Sage answered. "It's not meant to be."

"Still, it's an accomplishment to create a seal like that. Who made it?"

Naruto hesitated, glancing at Susumeru. "I did," he then said and shrugged. "It's an easy way of make people stop fighting and make sure that they don't continue fighting the moment we turn to look the other way. Beats the alternative."

"What's the alternative?" Minato asked worriedly.

"I don't know. We never figured out another plan since this one works pretty well for us. That's why it beats it," Naruto shrugged.

**x**

"So, do you have a camp site or something? I could give you a lift," the Fox Sage offered while Jiraiya carefully pulled his heavy metal mesh shirt on again. "Susumeru can't carry all of us, but she can carry you, Jiraiya-san. And I don't think you ought to be walking too much just yet."

"I'm not that badly wounded, it's just a cut," Jiraiya answered while reaching for his vest and pulling on with a pained grimace. "But I could use a breather - and chance to get out of this goddamned rain. You don't suppose they'd welcome us in the village, Arashi-san?" he asked a little wistfully.

"I don't think so, not after you almost trashed it," Naruto said a little apologetically while standing up. "Besides no one here exactly welcomes Shinobi from foreign countries, not after what you've done to this place," he looked around. "I think there's one of those weird local rock formations near by, though. You can take shelter from the rain under them."

Despite Jiraiya's objections, Naruto and Minato hoisted him up to Susumeru's back after which Naruto lead the group towards the rock formations which he was starting to call rock-forests in his head. They looked rather like forests made of stone in a way and the native of Fire Country inside him was really missing woods, so it worked out for him. After they had found a clean spot inside the rock-forest, Naruto helped Jiraiya down from Susumeru's back while Minato got some firewood from a storage scroll and started to make a fire.

"You're carrying firewood in a scroll?" Naruto asked with mild amusement while helping Jiraiya sit down with his back against a relatively smooth rock. "Weird thing to use a storage scroll."

"The last time I was here, it was a pain trying to find firewood," Jiraiya answered. "So this time I brought some with us, just in case. Minato, pile some rocks around it so that it isn't so visible from afar…"

Naruto helped and soon they had a makeshift stove piled around the camp fire. While Minato went about making something for his teacher to eat like the good little student he was, Naruto looked over Jiraiya. The rain had washed away all the blood so he looked disturbingly undamaged for the amount of damage he had really taken. The Fox Sage frowned, only now noticing that Jiraiya was shivering slightly - from the cold or from the blood loss.

At first Naruto thought they ought to move the man closer to the fire, but he was already as close as he would get without burning - Minato had made the fire right next to Jiraiya. Shaking his head, Naruto turned to the other options and went through a series of hand seals before lifting the tiger-seal to his lips while taking a deep breath. "Fuuton, Nanpuu no Jutsu," he murmured and blew out a warm breeze to dry the man's clothes as well as he could.

Jiraiya sputtered with surprise, turning wide eyes at him, his long white hair whipping about him in the wind Naruto had created. "What the hell are you doing, Arashi-san?" the man then asked, looking bewildered

"You looked like a drenched dog, Jiraiya-san. I couldn't help it," Naruto answered cheerfully and glanced over the man. He wasn't shivering anymore. "Better?"

"Well, at least I'm not as wet," the man muttered, looking a bit disturbed and amused about him using a Fuuton jutsu like a hair-dryer. "So, you do summoning, you do Fuuinjutsu, and you're apparently Fuuton adept. What else?"

"I like training, walks in the sunset, my favourite colour is orange, I'm growing a liking towards kitsune udon and will never ever say no to a warm bowl of ramen," Naruto answered, stroking the chin of his mask ponderously, as if serious. "Anything else you might like to know?"

Jiraiya gave him a look and then laughed dryly. "Right," he murmured, leaning back. "You're the carnival mystic."

"Just serving a different carnival," Naruto grinned and then looked up to Susumeru who, bored now that nothing was happening, was stretching. "You can go, if you want to," he said to the black fox. "Give my regards to Inari-sama when you report to him and if you see Kuda, tell me I might need his services soon for pretty a long period of time and he might want to prepare for it."

"Kuda?" she asked and nodded. "Alright. Though don't you need a ride on your way back?"

"I'm going to stay here for the night and I think can manage the return trip on foot. I'm not in hurry to get back, unless something comes up. So it's alright, I can always summon you again if I need you," Naruto said and watched the fox nod and then vanish in whirl of smoke.

"You're going to stay here?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto shrugged, stretching his arms. There was no way he was going to let the chance of finding out how Leaf was doing. And the fact that Jiraiya was injured certainly wasn't going to make him leave any faster. "It's been a slow week; I don't think they will need me back that soon. And it's been a while since I saw a friendly face of someone other than the guys in the gang," he answered. "You get eventually tired seeing same people day in and day out."

He glanced at Jiraiya and then at Minato. They were holding up a pretty strong front, but he could see they were tired. It wasn't just from the fight - they had probably been travelling before it. "And, if you don't mind me saying this, you two look like you need someone to watch over you for the night. You're not exactly in best state at the moment."

"And we're just supposed to trust you not to stab us in the back?" Jiraiya asked, lifting a single eyebrow at him while Minato glanced up from the food he was making worriedly.

Naruto only barely managed to hold back a laugh. "If I were going to harm you, I wouldn't need to be sneaky about it, Jiraiya-san. The way you are, I could stab you in the front and you wouldn't be able to do much about it," he said, tilting his head. "And I would've already done it, long before Minato-kun got the chance to tend to your wounds."

"Good point," the white haired man grumbled. "Still, you could be after some secret information we might have."

Naruto scratched the back of his head. Well, that was true, he supposed. "But I would first need to be _after_ some information and then I would need to know that _you_ specifically have it. Or do you think I randomly help all foreign Shinobi I encounter in hopes of pick-pocketing their national secrets?" he asked and shook his head. "The only information Akatsuki is after is the answer to a single question, and that is _when is the war going to end_. And I don't think anyone has the answer."

xx

Behold, sudden Jiraiya appearance! And Minato too, of course. If you haven't noticed yet, this story is pretty slow on the romance side, but we're getting there. Just veeery veeery slowly. Naruto's and Jiraiya's relationship will take years to develop. Maybe decades. Just the way I like it. Also, yes, I do have a plot. But since the plot is something along "this will happen eventually, and this will happen in decade or three," I have to make up a lot as I go along to fill the gaps in between. My apologies for grammar errors and such.


	13. Some advice

**Some advice  
**

After the Leaf-nin had eaten their meagre rations, Minato and Naruto made Jiraiya as comfortable as possible to let the man get the best rest he could hope to get in such circumstances. Despite Naruto's assurances that he was not an enemy for them, Minato seemed intent on holding vigil despite the fatigue which was making his eyelids droop. Naruto had a feeling that the boy would only last for so long before going out like a candle, but that was fine with him. It was somewhat awkward just sitting there with his painfully young not-quite father, over the exhausted form of their teacher.

"Could you tell me more about the Akatsuki, Arashi-san?" Minato eventually broke the silence a little hesitatingly, as if thinking Naruto wouldn't answer.

"There's not much to say. Most of what we do is pretty open faced," Naruto shrugged but leaned back, wondering how to tell the tale of the odd organisation he was now part of. "The Akatsuki was started by Yahiko and his two friends some years back, long before I joined it. They started it in hopes that if they convinced enough people to stop fighting, the fighting would eventually end… or to something to that manner. At first, I figure, it was just people of similar mind banding up together, to try and find peace in this place…" He looked past the rocky tree-like formations and to the open plains where the rain poured ceaselessly down. "This country's been ravaged by war after another, and very rarely have they been wars Rain itself was part of. So there are more than a few people here who are sick of it, who could do with some peace and quiet."

"So you… fight for peace? Isn't that a little counterproductive?" Minato asked.

"Maybe, but we don't fight for any other reason but to protect and save lives, and when we do fight it's always by using non-lethal means," Naruto shrugged. "It's a small difference, maybe, but it's still a difference."

Minato gave him a thoughtful look before turning his eyes to the fire. "Yeah," he murmured, pulling his knees up and wrapping his arms around his legs. "I've never been on a battle field of a war before the cease fire ended," he said quietly. "It's… not like I thought it would be. I thought I was prepared for it, I'm a Chuunin after all, but… but I wasn't."

Naruto gave him a slightly uncomfortable look, grateful of the mask for hiding it. "This here wasn't your first?" he asked, nodding to the direction of the village where the summons battle had been held during the day.

"No. Jiraiya-sensei and I were working as back up for Tsunade-san when she was stationed at the border. She's Jiraiya-sensei's former team mate - a medic-nin. She was in charge of combating the Sand poisons…" the boy trailed away, his blue eyes turning darker as he frowned. "There was a village, not far from the border, in the Land of River, Suna organised a trap for us. It was…" he swallowed before continuing. "Later they said that we did a good job, and that… that we succeeded, that the mission was success. But lot… lot of River Country's civilians died."

Naruto frowned at him before realising that the faltering story wasn't so bad because Minato was a bad story teller - but because most of what had happened at that village was probably classified. "Success is a matter of opinion," he said after a moment of thought, turning his eyes to the fire as well. "As is defeat." He thought of the Land of the Waves and how the mission had been called success when he had never stopped mourning it. He thought of Sasuke and how he had failed over and over again. His defeat of Pain could be called a success too, but entire Leaf had been brought to ruin before it and even if a village could be rebuilt, some things that were lost in those ruins couldn't be. Precious memories and mementos, forever lost…

"Have you ever… killed civilians?" Minato asked softly.

"I've never killed a single human being," Naruto answered without much pride, because it was a twisted thought. Mostly because he knew he had never lacked the ability to do so - though his morals had always fought back, he had never been _unable_ to. And then there was the fact that though he had not killed anyone, people had died nonetheless. Some of them… in direct result of his actions. Like Kazuku, whom Kakashi had been able to kill only because Naruto had taken out most of his hearts with the first crude version of the Rasenshuriken. "But not killing anyone alone doesn't matter."

"It doesn't?"

Naruto shrugged and was quiet for a moment before speaking again. "The first real mission I had was a bodyguard duty. I won't go into the details because they wouldn't really mean much to you, but during that mission I befriended the student of an enemy-nin who was after the life of our employer… Later, in battle between my sensei and the enemy-nin, my friend died to protect his teacher. My sensei landed the killing blow."

Minato gave him a strange look and shook his head to show that he didn't understand what did he mean. Naruto grinned mirthlessly behind his mask. He didn't either, really. "It's been years since, but I've never figured out who was to blame for that," he said. "My sensei, for killing my friend? Myself, for not being able to stop it? My friend himself, for suicidally throwing himself in the way of that killing blow? Or the enemy-nin, his teacher, for impacting such loyalty to him that he'd die for him without blinking an eye? Or was it our employer for hiring us in the first place? Or the employer of the enemy-nin, who had ordered them to kill our charge?"

Minato frowned. "In that sort of situation… I don't know if anyone can be blamed."

"But someone still died at another's hand," Naruto answered. "What I mean is that it doesn't matter if _I_ never kill another person during my life, if the situation keeps killing them around me." He leaned back until he fell flat on his back on the rocky ground, staring up to the ceiling of their rough shelter. "If I don't try and change the situation, then I'm just as guilty as anyone. And just as guiltless, whatever that means."

The blonde boy looked thoughtfully at him, before turning his eyes back to the fire. "Does that mean that I'm guilty for the death of those civilians?"

"If there was absolutely nothing you could do differently… who knows," Naruto shrugged his shoulders and thought of Sasuke and the people who had died at his hand. People who would've been saved if only Naruto had been able to stop his team mate from deserting Leaf. "I'm not a saint and I have no moral high ground to stand on. I have more than enough blood on my hands even if I didn't spill it myself. What I think is… what makes you guilty is knowing and still doing nothing."

"Is that why you joined the Akatsuki?" the boy asked.

Naruto frowned. "No," he said slowly. "But I think that's why I stay with them."

Yahiko, Nagato and Konan didn't need him. Naruto had realised it a while ago, but hadn't really thought about it too hard. With the harsh lesson of betrayal and the fragility of trust taught and internalised, they certainly weren't as weak as he often found himself thinking they were. They didn't need him to look after their backs. But despite that, Naruto hung around, no longer as a protector or some sort of weird guardian, but as what he really was. A follower. He hadn't really given any thought as to why he stayed, or why he was perfectly comfortable in the position he was. He just was.

Now it came to him and it was simple. He followed, because Yahiko was _right_. Yahiko was closest to answering the question Naruto himself hadn't been able to answer with anything better than quoting like a parrot, "if there is an answer, I'll find it." Yahiko, instead of saying he'd eventually get there if there was a place get to, was already getting there. Not just that, but he was making the place and the way to get to there with his own two hands.

Naruto chuckled to himself, gaining a confused look from Minato. Suddenly he wasn't sure if it was Nagato who was the student Jiraiya's prophesy had spoken of. Maybe it was Yahiko. Not the Rinnegan user, not the Jinchuuriki, not the future Hokage, but the nobody. Yahiko the orphan. "Stuff of legends," he murmured.

"What is?" Minato asked, confused.

"Never mind, just thinking out loud," Naruto answered, staring at the rocky formations above him. Then he turned to look at Jiraiya. Bruises under his eyes and along his neck, hair messy from being dried too quickly, clothes worn and dirty from travelling, he certainly didn't look like much. But Jiraiya had been trained by a Hokage, he had trained with a Hokage and he trained a Hokage himself. He had trained Nagato, Yahiko and Konan. He had trained Minato too. He had became first human Sage since the Sage of Six Paths himself. And he had trained Naruto. Jiraiya himself might've never grasped that sort of greatness that came from leading people, but he had sown it like seeds and watched the forest grow all around him.

Or he would, as most of that had yet to happen.

How could it be that there was one person so interwoven into the lives of so many great individuals? Just a lucky coincidence? Naruto frowned and thought about the prophesy. Coincidence… probably not. Sarutobi Hiruzen, Tsunade and Orochimaru, that could've been the lucky coincidence of location and time. Nagato, Yahiko and Konan… that was stretching the coincidence a little, but maybe could've been still counted for it. But Minato? Not to mention about the fact that it all stretched there, Minato teaching Kakashi, who had taught Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura, the remake of the Three Legendary Ninja… And Naruto himself with his father and his tenant and his very _name_…

"Do you think that the world can be changed, Arashi-san?" Minato asked, startling Naruto out of his thoughts and then forcing him to wonder what he was on about. Then he realised that the boy was still thinking about the previous subject of conversation, the guilt of not doing anything.

"I don't believe that a change can be stopped," Naruto answered. "It's inevitable in a way. The world _will_ change." He knew it for a fact. "Tomorrow, next week, next decade, next century… they will all be different somehow. At this point or any other point is just the matter of which way it will change."

"And it really is… up to us?" the boy asked with mild wonder. "I mean… what can one person do?"

"One person can kill another, and then make the friends of that person seek revenge - those people will kill that one person and then those who loved that one will seek revenge… and on it goes, maybe it will lead to a massacre, maybe to a war," Naruto said, making a circling motion with his hand. "That's the simplest way of putting the theory of the spiral of hatred. It all starts small. But it works the other way around too. Maybe one person can save another, and then that person will do the same for someone else. Or maybe one person can change one other person, and that will lead to a chain of changes… good ones or bad ones…"

Minato glanced at him, looking a bit puzzled. "That seems a bit flimsy," he said a little dubiously. "You make it sound like time is a chain of dominos and future is the matter of where and how the dominos fall."

Naruto laughed, for a moment mourning that he had never known Namikaze Minato. If his father was this interesting as a kid, who knew what he had been like in the future. "That's it," he said. "That's exactly what is like. Of course, if time is a chain of dominos, it is actually more like… entire courtyard of them, with little chain reactions going all over the place. Some of them never fall, others tip others over," he turned to face the boy, leaning his elbow to the ground and his head to his palm. "One Domino alone can't do anything, though. It falls over and that's it for that. There has to be another domino within reach. And then another in the reach of that…"

"I think we lost the gist of this metaphor," Minato muttered with a frown.

Naruto chuckled. "I'm not sure if there was one to begin with," he answered. "But anyway, one person _can_ make a huge difference. The problem is, you can't really tell what kind of difference you make until _after_ the fact. All you can really do is your best. Right?"

The boy gave him a frown before sighing. "You make a poor wise man, Arashi-san," he said. "But I think you're getting better at being a mystic."

Naruto didn't know whether or not he was supposed to laugh at the idea of playing a wise man to his own brilliant soon-to-be father. "Well, now you know better than to ask my opinion, I guess," he finally offered with a laugh.

**x**

Minato eventually got too tired for further conversation and eventually, while Naruto tended to the fire, fell asleep. Naruto didn't mind, not now that he knew that being in a way alone in his father's presence made him think things too deeply. Maybe it was the whole concept of his dead father as a child sitting by him without any knowledge of the future that would maybe now never come to pass, but something about Namikaze Minato made Naruto think entirely too much.

"Or maybe I'm just trying to show off," he muttered a little mirthlessly and after making sure that Jiraiya and Minato were both comfortable, dry and warm, he stood up. Leaving them by the fire, he headed to the edge of the rock-forest, to watch and listen to the rain. That was what he was supposed to do, anyway. Stand watch so that Jiraiya could have his healing rest, so that Minato could regain his strength, so that the two of them could continue their secret mission to Leaf in the morning with as good condition as they could manage in the situation they were in.

Maybe it was the introspective mood Minato had somehow brought up, or maybe it was the gloominess of the never ending rain in the night, but Naruto suddenly realised the scope of the moment and that he was watching over a pair of _dead men_. A wave of nauseous nostalgia and morbid humour washed over him and he let out a choked chuckle, for a moment teetering on the thin edge between the Most Surprising Ninja of Leaf and the Fox Sage of Rain. The latter won and he laughed again. He had talked about guilty situations and domino timelines with his own dead father who was a child.

What kind of situation and timeline led a person to this sort of place in time? Just how many dominos had to fall in the peculiar way they did for him to end up specifically in this place in this time? What was needed the chains of his own past, which encompassed Minato's and Jiraiya's and pretty much all of Leaf's, Sasuke's and Sakura's too as they had led him to be the person he was. Then all the chains of dominos that had collapsed behind Itachi - and all those which would never fall because Itachi had butchered his family. And the long complicated, blood splattered chains of Nagato and Akatsuki. And Madara was there too, somewhere. All tying in a knot the moment the Kyuubi had faded to red sky and ocean and Naruto had waited to die.

He shuddered and shook his head, trying to get the thought to leave him. So many trails of fate leading into single moment and person, it was terrifying. Especially since it was the sort of thing that led people to think that they were special and somehow greater than other people and Naruto knew better than most how dangerous that sort of thoughts were.

But in the same time in those chains of fate laid all the reason why he stood there, at the edge of rain, trying to figure out how to protect it all and make a difference. Because difference could be and had to be made. Nagato's chains of fate had already changed, as had Yahiko's and Konan's and Akatsuki's and most probably the whole of Rain's. All Naruto had left to do was to see where the chains led. To the control of Rain, he hoped, but he couldn't be sure until he actually saw it, and that was another reason to stay. However, there were bunch to other chains to change… or break.

Frowning, Naruto brought his hands up and formed the hand seal of Kage Bunshin, before summoning forth a clone who was just as pensive as he was. "There's lot of stuff we can change, isn't there?" Naruto asked. "Rain's already been changed… for better, I hope. But there are lot of other things we need to think about. The bulk of Itachi for one. Though…" he considered it for a moment. "That's not exactly an urgent issue. He won't even be born for another ten years or so."

"Yeah," the clone agreed, crouching to the wet ground and staring at the rain for a moment before turning to look over his shoulder - at Jiraiya and Minato. "There's him too," he said, nodding. "The Pervert I mean. And Orochimaru."

Naruto frowned. He hadn't thought about that. Orochimaru was the start and end of so many chains. Just how many people had Orochimaru's killed? Not just by cutting them down, but in experiments and schemes of which Naruto knew nothing about. His frown darkened as he thought of Yamato-shishou, him and the fifty nine infants who had died in the experiment to recreate the First and Founding Hokage's Mokuton ability. "That," he said forcefully. "That we need to stop."

The clone had seemed to be thinking along the same lines and nodded with a dark expression. "Yeah," he said, turning to face the rain again before undressing his fox mask and rubbing his eyes. "With Akatsuki changed it would be a bit dangerous to let him run about on his own anyway. Who knows what he'd do, run into Madara probably."

Naruto shuddered. Orochimaru had left Akatsuki before Madara had started to really make his moves within it, and from what he had gathered Madara hadn't thought much of Orochimaru in general, but the possibility those two _really_ banding up together was still rather unnerving. "Let's stop that from happening if we can," he agreed. "But thinking of Madara…"

They fell into silence. Madara, the beginning and the end of it all. Naruto had avoided thinking about him because he had known that there was little he could do, but making some sort of plan wouldn't hurt. Sadly, he had no idea where Madara was currently or what he was doing.

"We might get some information about him if we go to Water country," the clone suggested. "He was the Mizukage once, wasn't he?"

"Yeah, there was that," Naruto murmured, thought the memory was distant and he couldn't recall which Mizukage Madara had been. Not the Fifth, because that one was a woman, and not the Fourth, as he had been a Jinchuuriki. That left First, Second and Third. "He was probably the Second. Hidden Mist was founded around the same time as Hidden Leaf, wasn't it? Madara was at Leaf during that time so he couldn't have been the first… right?"

"Who knows. They didn't select the Hokage right away so they might've not selected the Mizukage immediately either," the clone mused. "We won't know unless we check it out either way."

"Better wait until things are resolved here and the war is over," Naruto mused. "There isn't that much of a hurry so we can see Yahiko to the throne of Hidden Rain. Or at least Hanzo out of it."

The clone snorted. "Agreed," he said, stretching.

**x**

Jiraiya woke up few hours into the night, sometime after Naruto had send his clone to patrol so that he could tend to the fire. He was just coaxing the flames, trying to get them to burn brighter, when the man's sleepy groan roused the his attention, making him turn around to see that the Toad Sage was trying to sit up. "You should rest, Jiraiya-san," Naruto said. "Give your wounds the chance to heal."

"They're not going to heal during one night," Jiraiya answered with a groan, rubbing his stomach. He glanced around and spotted Minato, who was fast asleep not far from him. The man snorted softly. "Brat," he murmured fondly, and Naruto turned his eyes away at the sting of jealousy he suddenly felt. That had once been his title.

"Don't blame him for not keeping vigil. He was tired," he said, turning his eyes to the fire and pocking the logs with a stick to get them into a better position.

"I don't mind. Let him sleep - he's been working too hard lately anyway," the elder Shinobi answered and slowly sat up, grimacing with pain. "And since you haven't stabbed either of us yet, I think I can trust you not to do it in the future either. You mind handing me that?" he asked, pointing at his backpack.

Naruto reached for it and lifted it to Jiraiya's side. Quickly the man rummaged through it, retrieving a packet of tobacco before taking out his pipe as well. In practiced fashion he readied the pipe before turning his eyes the fire. "Mind giving me a light too?"

"I have a sudden feeling that you're one bossy patient every time you get injured," Naruto murmured while reaching and taking out a stick from the fire. He handed it to the man who quickly used it to light his tobacco. There was a look of relief in Jiraiya's face as he breathed in the smoke. "Better?" the Fox Sage asked a little amusedly.

"Much better. Should've brought some sake with me, though, that would've been even nicer," the man answered, quickly inhaling the smoke again and breathing out slowly. Then he gave Naruto a look of consideration. "So. Akatsuki, huh?"

"That's what they named the gang," Naruto answered with a shrug.

"Sounds like interesting thing to be a part of."

"I suppose."

The conversation stalled there as Naruto wondered how to deal with the man this time. The last time he had been alone with Jiraiya, he had still been just slightly loopy and had been able to handle the meeting in some what casual manner. This time however he was very keenly aware of the world around him and what this sort of conversations could make happen, so he didn't dare to say anything. He had already said entirely too much to Minato.

"And the leader's name is Yahiko, hm. Do you know anyone named Konan or Nagato, by any chance?" Jiraiya finally asked.

Naruto nodded. "They and Yahiko-san are the three leaders of Akatsuki. Well, Yahiko-san is the main leader, and Konan-san and Nagato-san are the seconds but since they do most things together, I consider the three of them a packet deal," he answered while crossing his feet comfortably and staring at the fire. "They are well, before you ask. More than that, they're powerful. And growing in influence with each passing day with this war going around. The gang already has a lot of members and even more protégés…" he trailed away thoughtfully. "Or maybe it should be called organisation now…?"

Jiraiya frowned. "A organisation run by those three. I suppose your non-kill policy and the fact that you showed up to protect the village makes sense, then. For a moment there I thought you were a complete loony."

"Who says I'm not?" Naruto grinned.

The other snorted, shaking his head. "How come you're suddenly with them? Why did you choose them of all people - and how did you find about them for that matter?"

Naruto hesitated and then smiled. "You told me about them. I figured that I'd…" he trailed away. That he'd have best chance of changing the future from Rain, but he couldn't say that. He coughed awkwardly. "That I'd fit in. It seemed like the best place for me."

"After losing your village you chose to give your alliance to small no-name gang in a tiny land, very unlikely to survive," Jiraiya stated flatly. "There ought to have been another reason."

"Of course there is another reason. There are always other reasons," Naruto laughed, shaking his head. "Underneath of the underneath and all that. But my reasons are my own, Jiraiya-san. I imagine they wouldn't make much sense to you anyway."

The other sighed. "Cryptic lot, you carnival people," he murmured before bringing his pipe to his lips. He was staring outside the rock-forest and to the rain. "You managed to find a very gloomy place to live, I'll say that," Jiraiya snorted, shaking his head. "I used to live here for three years once upon a time - when I was training those kids. I've been trying to avoid this place since - three years of being constantly rained on was enough for me."

Naruto laughed. "I know what you mean. The rain I could handle, I guess, but the fact that nothing grows here is kind of starting to get to me. The foxes, though, they don't much care about there being no plants, but being rained on every time I summon them…" He winced a little. Gizensha no longer whined about it, probably having grown either accustomed or too tired of arguing against something Naruto couldn't change, but he had complained. Loudly. And very often.

Jiraiya snorted in agreement. "I imagine summons with fur don't care for it much. The lion didn't seem too happy about being summoned into pouring rain either. Lucky me, I have toads. They're _happy_ being summoned in rain," he grinned.

"Oh, rub it in, why don't you," Naruto rolled his eyes, making the white haired man grin at him.

There was a moment of somewhat comfortable silence, before Jiraiya spoke again. "Is it better?" he asked. "Being here, I mean."

Naruto thought about it for a moment and nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, it is."

**x**

"I suppose you will go back to Akatsuki now," Jiraiya said in the morning after he and his student had eaten and they were getting ready to continue their mission.

"Well, I _could_ follow you around, too, but I imagine you being on secret mission and all, I might be something of a bother," Naruto answered while scattering the stones they had used to shelter the fire, and kicking the ashes apart. "There is also the matter of there being a war and all, and I don't want to sound all self centred, but I think they prefer to have me around, the gang…"

"Alright, alright, no need to be a smartass about it…" Jiraiya muttered, shaking his head while lifting his backpack to his shoulders. "You ready to go, Minato?"

"Just about," the boy answered after securing the strap holding one of his kunai pouches more securely around his thigh. He looked up to Naruto, who was done with concealing their camp site. "Thank you for watching over us, Arashi-san, and I'm sorry I fell asleep in middle of our conversation."

"Never mind, Minato-kun," Naruto waved his hand, a bit embarrassed to be thanked and apologised by his own father for something so simple. "It was my pleasure," he added before turning to Jiraiya. "I don't know where you're going or why and that's probably for the best. But if I were you, I would avoid most or the northern villages and tread very carefully around the southern rivers. Also, there's rumours going about that the southern border villages will fall victim to Sand poisons soon. Securing conquered territory and all. And if you want to be really careful, avoid sources of water altogether. Hanzo has released a clutch salamander larvae on the lakes. Most are just for surveillance and intimidation, but they eat just about anything, so…"

"Bit hard to avoid water, around here," Jiraiya snorted, looking at the heavy rain with grim amusement, but he seemed to be taking the warnings seriously. "Have they set any minefields yet?"

"If they have, we haven't heard about it, but with Hanzo being what he is, we _wouldn't_ hear about it," Naruto muttered and glared at the rain, thinking about Yoaruki and his other badly maimed students. "The only way anyone survives those fields to tell the tale is when the fields are old and the most explosives either have been already triggered and grown generally too weak to kill. If Hanzo's made new ones, they won't leave any survivors to tell about them." Yoaruki had been _lucky_ to have only lost his feet in a field like that.

The Fox Sage sighed. "I would bet on Hanzo having set some around Hidden Rain at least," he said. "Further out they wouldn't be too useful, not with all sides being so careful. So he probably won't set traps for his enemies before they will bring bigger forces into the country. Still, it probably wouldn't hurt to be careful. There are still the remains of the old fields, after all."

Jiraiya grimaced and nodded. "So, avoid the water and avoid the ground. Times like these make me regret not having avian summon." With a sigh he shook his head and turned to face Naruto. "Thanks," he said, offering his hand.

Naruto clasped it and shook. "Take care," he said. "And, just a little hopeful request from Akatsuki, try not to kill anyone?"

The Toad Sage chuckled softly, shaking his head. "I can't promise anything, but I'll try," he said little sadly, squeezing Naruto's hand a little stronger before turning. That was it for goodbyes, and soon the two Leaf-Shinobi headed to the rain and to whatever mission they had ahead of them. For a moment Naruto watched the rain where their shapes turned blurry and eventually vanished, before shaking his head. He was better off not knowing.

xx

Long time no update, huh? Haven't been in narujira mood in a while, but it swung back and here we are, yay. Not much to say about this chapter, though. My apologies for possible grammar errors, etc, etc...


	14. Blood on water

**Blood on water**

Only a week later Naruto wished he had gone with Jiraiya. Or stopped him at least, because it _had_ to be the man's doing. It had been only two days since he had met the two Shinobi from Leaf when the entire, albeit holey, wall surrounding land of Rain was brought down. Several hundred miles of carefully made wall and perfectly functional seal barrier, all crashed down within few minutes without any sign of how it happened. For those who saw it, it just seemed to happen by itself. But someone had to be behind it - wall as sturdy as the one Hanzo had made didn't just fall. Especially not everywhere all at once.

"They have to have been really good," Nagato, who among the gang knew most about sealing, said later on. "And very fast. Barrier like the one Hanzo put up needs at least few dozen connective points and the Fuuinjutsu itself… it's impossible to know what sort of seals Hanzo used. They had to be very strong ones, considering the area they covered. And with him being as he is, there has to have been back ups and safety methods and catches of extra sealing points in the danger zones. Hanzo spend almost a year putting up that wall. To bring it all down at once… especially since the seal barrier was apparently connected to the physical wall."

Naruto didn't understand exactly how seal barriers like that were made, but he knew it was a complicated process. And to make them _stand_ continuously was even harder and needed several things to be in place. It wasn't easy to bring a thing like that down. And yet Jiraiya had the knowledge, Minato had the speed, and thrown in some shadow clones, the work could be done all at once along different points of the wall.

Naruto frowned, feeling faintly ill. If things had been bad before, they were going to get even worse now. Before they at least had some knowledge when and where the foreign Shinobi were coming, how many there were and where they were heading. Now they didn't have any of that, unless someone was lucky enough to _see_ the enemy actually coming.

And worse yet, it didn't tell anything good about Hidden Leaf that they had been the one to bring down the entire barrier down. Because they knew that whilst opening easy entrance to themselves, they were doing it for their enemies as well. And yet they had still done it, despite giving their enemies that advantage. It meant that what ever they needed the barrier down for, it wasn't anything good.

Before the barrier had collapsed, the war had just continued on, ceaselessly and tirelessly, growing more haphazard and vicious as it went. The longer it gone on, the more Naruto had been aware of the fact that no one had any sort of plan about what was happening. It was more because of opportunity than of design that the war had continued after the ceasefire and how it had rolled on like an unstoppable monster.

Sand had taken the first opportunity and tried to weaken the Leaf, breaking the ceasefire. Leaf, in true circle of hatred fashion, had retaliated. Rock had attempted to take the opportunity of having both of two deadly enemies occupied and sneak in through Rain. Sand had noticed and retaliated. Leaf had then taken the opportunity of having Sand busy with Rock, and attacked. Opportunity, retaliation, opportunity, retaliation. Back forth, back forth, it had been like tug-o'-war.

But now someone had a plan. Leaf had a plan. Despite coming from the village and knowing it like the back of his hand and despite wanting to become its Hokage… Naruto was suddenly finding that he didn't like the place all that much. How were they any better than Sand with their poisons and Rock with their habit of claiming Rain villages and turning into their own strong holds? Once he had had the answer, but he couldn't remember it anymore.

"I don't know," Yahiko murmured when Naruto had explained him and the other two leaders what he thought. "I can't for the life of me think what the Leaf could be planning. They took the barrier down to hide whatever they were doing, whatever they're going to bring into Rain, but… what could that be, what does Leaf have that would be so useful that they'd give Sand and Rock advantage like this…?"

Naruto frowned, trying to remember. Leaf was known for three things. Summons, powerful clans with powerful bloodline limits and Seals. None of which should be that hard to bring into Rain. What else was there? It couldn't be summons, really, because the only thing they had to do was to bring the summoner into the country. It couldn't be blood line limits either, what use would they be here in the chaotic melee going on? Sure, few Uchiha in strategic places could copy and store interesting Ninjutsu, but they could sneak the Uchiha easily without bringing the wall down. And seals, well… what could you accomplish with them here? Seals were designed for storing and locking things up, with the exception of summoning and barrier seals and such… they weren't that useful in a combat.

"I guess we have to consider what they might want to figure out what they probably plan to do," Konan suggested. "The Leaf-nin have been going pretty viciously against the Sand so maybe that has something to do with it?"

"Sand. Puppets, Fuuton and poisons," Nagato murmured, narrowing his eyes. "All things to be fought against individually. Unless they are using this as chance to bring in an army, it makes no sense. And bringing an army wouldn't work, as now Sand and Rock can bring their armies as well."

They looked at each other and frowned. In the end they didn't come up with any sort of conclusion or a theory. Leaf was doing something, but none of them had any idea what.

**x**

The broken wall accelerated the war and within the following week more damage was done than in the last few months. The border villages in south and north were claimed by Sand and Rock respectively, and two of main southern rivers were fed with poisons. Not much after the Hidden Rock brought in four moving fortresses over the broken border, Naruto witnessed the difficult task of moving the Hokage-tower sized stone monstrosities once from afar, and judging by the slowness and the amount of power required, there had to be something really special about the towers - otherwise they wouldn't have gone through the trouble. When Sand upped their own protection in the south by bringing in two giant-summon sized puppets which had to be controlled by no less than twenty Shinobi, he knew that the Akatsuki and the Hidden Rain weren't the only ones preparing for whatever Leaf had in mind.

Leaf, in mean while, seemed to do nothing and even was withdrawing their forces. That, more than anything else they had done so far, made people worried.

And whilst this all was happening, more Rain civilians fell victim to their foreign guests. Akatsuki was suddenly stretched thin, not only because of evacuations and building protections around still undamaged villages, but also in building new safe houses and teaching new members techniques so that they could protect themselves and their charges. The gang's members tripled in size in one week, just because of what Leaf was doing.

It was only the matter of time before they would find out whether it made any difference. Leaf was preparing for something and the anticipation and anxiousness was almost tangible in the air. Something was going to happen. Soon. In the mean while all they could do was wait and see. Waiting, however, wasn't like the waiting of before when they had been merely anticipating battles. This time waiting was filled with them.

"Whatever Leaf is planning, they ought to get a goddamned move on already," Yahiko murmured more than once while reading through reports from various Akatsuki members. Reports of battles happening everywhere, of people the gang members had rescued or imprisoned or simply seen killed and later on buried or burned. "In their preparation for whatever Leaf's gonna do, Sand and Rock are going to tear this country apart."

It wasn't only the civilians or the Shinobi which fell victim to the bloody anxiousness either. Akatsuki was suddenly high up on Sand's, Rock's and Rain's to-do-list. In the past months, they had sealed more than fifty Shinobi from Sand, sixty from Rock and about thirty from Rain, and whilst before those people had been expendable for the villages they were from and something they could attend to later, they were suddenly more important.

The first time Akatsuki member was attacked, it was a Sand-nin, demanding release tags for the prison scrolls. It happened while the gang member, named Sukuu, had been helping with the evacuation of a civilian family. The civilians had been badly wounded and Sukuu had became the first Akatsuki member to die whilst on line of duty. It had impacted the gang harshly, Yahiko most of all as he had been the one to order Sukuu to the task of evacuation. After that their leader never let anyone go out alone and if they did, he made sure they knew how to protect themselves.

Naruto was employed mostly to the danger zones, afterwards. Not just to the task of protecting settlements and to work as possible barrier between Shinobi and civilians. He was sent out to be the distraction... or the human shield most of the time. He didn't mind, being the only summoner in the gang and among of it's best fighters, but it reflected somewhat badly on the situation. And maybe on Yahiko as well.

"Remember that we all joined this gang for the same purpose," he said to his leader while giving a report of somewhat successful evacuation and the fact that the water supply in the village he had attended to was unsuitable for drinking. "Even the weaker members of the gang. Don't coddle them."

Yahiko answered with a dark look and half hour later sent him out again.

It was from a mission like that - he had been sent to fend of attack against a small Shinobi clan living outside Village Hidden in Rain - when he was summoned by the Akatsuki for the first time. It probably looked a bit odd to the Rock-nin he had been facing when he was standing atop Gizensha's head one moment, and gone the next, but he didn't have much of a choice. And neither did Akatsuki, he found split of a second later, when he saw the situation he had been summoned to.

Hanzo faced him across the waves of the lake that stood upon the hideout's exist. With him the man had dozen Shinobi and two gigantic summons.

"Arashi-san!" Nagato, who had been the one to summon him, gasped out. One of his hands lay limply at his side and with the other he was supporting half unconscious Konan while Yahiko, still undamaged, hovered next to them, looking alert. "It worked!" Around the three of them lay bodies of Akatsuki members, bobbing idly up and down on the waves.

"There you are, Fox Sage" the leader of Hidden Rain crowed. "I was starting to think you had met your end in a battle field somewhere.

"No such luck, Hanzo," Naruto answered, his eyes jumping from body to body to assess wounds and trying to see whether his fellow members were merely unconscious or dead. "Takes more than what this current world has to offer to take me down," he continued while bringing his hands together. Two dozen of his clones shot forward and, ignoring the Shinobi of Rain who all immediately tensed, hurriedly attended to the wounded, even to Nagato and Konan who slumped to the assisting hands in relief.

"You alright, Yahiko-san?" Naruto asked.

"Tired, but fit enough to fight," the orange haired leader answered, giving a jerking nod towards the other members. "Take them to the hideout to have their wounds checked."

"I can still fight," Nagato argued, though the trail of fresh blood that ran down his hand gave away his bluff.

"Take him," Yahiko ordered and with unified nod Naruto's clones gathered the wounded and headed away towards one of the many entrances that could be only opened from the inside. Hopefully there was still someone left inside to open.

Few of Hanzo's people made a move to follow them, but sharp order from Hanzo stopped them. "Leave them, there is no point fighting the half dead and clones," the man said, his eyes nailed on Naruto. "With these two we have all the fight we can handle right there." his eyes narrowed. "We don't need the others anyway. Fox Sage created the scrolls; he will have designs for the release tags."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. Well, that explained what Hanzo was doing there - not that he thought the man _needed_ a reason. With things as they were, Hanzo probably wanted the men lost in Prison Scrolls back and able to fight. Of course. "They didn't manage to get any of our tags, right?" he asked under his breath, glancing at his leader.

"We didn't take any with us when we came to face him," Yahiko answered, wiped away a small trail of blood from the corner of his mouth and then glanced at him. "Summon," he ordered. "Hanzo's nearly impossible to fight on water just when he's alone, but those lizards make it even worse."

"Do you know what affinities the summons have?" Naruto asked while quickly biting into his thumb to draw blood. Knowing what kind of summons he was against would determine who he would summon against them

"Raiton and Suiton."

Naruto nodded and summoned. First Koukatsu, then Zurui, the red and black fox appearing to his side in enormous bursts of chakra smoke. Naruto glanced at them and frowned. He would've preferred to use Gizensha, but the fox in sheep's skin was still in middle of previous summoning and next to no use on water. Neither were Koukatsu or Zurui for that matter, but the two worked well together and even better with Naruto's own wind affinity.

"A battle, a battle!" Koukatsu yelled after seeing the Rain's Shinobi before him - and the other summons. The two salamanders Hanzo had summoned hissed and jerked nervously at the sight of the vulpine summons, but stood their ground. Koukatsu let out an eerie bark of laughter. "Finally, a real battle!"

"Arashi?" Zurui, who was a little more composed, asked quietly. "Is this a real battle?" Naruto had summoned him too for defensive purposes before, so the question was merited. Battle for foxes, after all, was determined by a kill. If there was no kill, it was merely a sparring match no matter how serious.

"It's a battle for them and a sparring match for us," Naruto answered, glancing at Yahiko. The orange haired Shinobi was steadily staring at Hanzo and suddenly Naruto wasn't sure about whether it was a sparring match after all. Yahiko was too serious. Serious with him meant enraged. Shaking his head, the Fox Sage turned to his summons and then jumped to Zurui's back. "Koukatsu! Go and play! Let's take out our amphibian friends."

"With pleasure!" the red fox barked and ran forward, in only two giant leaps reaching the two salamanders and attacking them with eager fury. The salamanders were easily big enough to match him with physical size, but they were still lizards while Koukatsu was a fox. They had no claws or fangs whilst Koukatsu had enough to spare.

"Let's give some back up, shall we?" Naruto asked, from Zurui who gave low hum of agreement in answer. Smiling grimly, Naruto looked ahead and went through the hand seals of a Fuuton jutsu. "They have Suiton and Raiton affinities apparently, but that won't matter much to us. Let's give them some fire."

"Right," Zurui answered and drew a breath. "Katon, Kitsune-bi!" the fox called and, with the hairs in the back of his neck standing up, roared fire upon the Rain-nin.

"Fuuton, Arashi no Yaiba!" Naruto backed the attack, his hurricane of wind blades rushing right into the fiery breath of Zurui's foxfire and catching the flames. Koukatsu, who was used to having Zurui's back up, jumped out of the way nimbly as the flaming wind blades began crashing down around him, scattering the Rain Shinobi and hitting the salamander summons, making them cry out in pain.

"Tokage, Eki! Use Ninjutsu!" Hanzo called out, his hands going through a sequence of seals. The salamanders hissed and their tails trashed as they answered, one shooting out a long tongue of lightning while the other shot out water bullets at Naruto's summon. The two of the attacks mingled midair, making the water bullets sizzle with electricity, and behind the attacks came Hanzo's own jutsu, "Fuuton, Hokufuu no Jutsu!" which froze the attacks into glowing spears of frozen lightning.

"How the hell…?" Naruto murmured, and was almost knocked off balance as Zurui hurriedly jumped out of the attack's way, then jumped even further when they saw the damage. Yahiko hurried out of the attack's away as well, apparently having seen it in action before. The moment the ice spear hit the water, the area around it froze completely while lightning streamed across the surface. Naruto blinked and then frowned. "How the hell did he do that?"

"Now is not the time to wonder," Zurui answered tensely. "Concentrate onto the battle, Arashi!"

"Right," Naruto answered, but felt a bit unnerved nonetheless. Combining wind and lighting should be impossible. Not to mention that he had never heard of anyone combining three elements. Frowning he looked ahead, only to see that Hanzo wasn't with the salamanders anymore. "Damn it," he murmured, and looked around. "Where did he -?"

"You're on the slow side today, Fox Sage. You should've used Senjutsu," a voice came from behind him and Naruto only barely managed to look behind him before he felt the kunai.

It was only years and years of being badly wounded in just about every battle he had taken part in, that kept Naruto from screaming out in pain as the kunai dug into his flesh. In blind instinct more than conscious action, he drew out his own weapon and sharply tried to reach Hanzo with it. However the leader of Hidden Rain was already gone, almost as if he had never been there at all, and without even needing to look Naruto knew the man was back at his two summons' side.

There was a reason why no one wanted to fight Hanzo on water, it seemed.

"Oh, goddamned-!" Naruto hissed, falling to one knee on Zurui's back and almost dropping the kunai as he reached to touch his back. "God_damn _it," he groaned as he felt the kunai. Only the hilt jutted out. Hanzo had not only stabled the thing right through his utility belt, but buried it deep in his back, handle and all.

"Arashi!" Zurui barked, trying to look over his shoulder while Naruto tried to take hold of the kunai to pull it out. "I can smell your blood, are you wounded?"

"The bastard stuck a kunai in me," Naruto said and let out a grunt as he managed to pull the kunai out. It was probably not the smartest move, he realised as he felt something give in inside him and the world tilted around him. He let out a stream of curses, falling to both knees and having to take support from Zurui's fur to not fall completely of the fox's back. Blood streamed from the wound, and soaked through his clothes. It was odd sensation and too distracted by it, it was only belatedly that Naruto realised that he shouldn't have been able to reach the kunai. There should've been something on the way. "Oh, _goddamn it_!" he gasped out as he realised what Hanzo had done. His summoning scroll was gone.

"Arashi-san," Yahiko appeared to his side, taking hold of his hand and hurriedly helping him to his feet. Zurui grumbled at the other human on his back but said nothing. Yahiko ignored the fox and looked down on Naruto. "How bad is it, do you need to retreat?"

"This is so un-cool," Naruto grumbled, wincing. Once upon a time, this would've been nothing but a scratch and he would've already healed. Once upon a time, he had had the Kyuubi to deal with wounds like this. "Just… just give me a moment," he muttered, looking up to see that Koukatsu was doing his best to keep Hanzo's people occupied. Then he glanced around. "How far are we from the hideout?" if they were still within reach, he might be able to get a clone without having to summon.

"About ten miles," Yahiko answered, frowning with worry while assessing Naruto's wound. By the look of his wince, it didn't look good.

"Shit," Naruto growled, and turned to face their enemy. Hanzo was holding his summoning scroll in his hand. "Without that thing, I can't summon my clones to get into the sage mode," he said, and almost fell over. The world seemed to be spinning around him. "I'm sorry, Yahiko-san," he gasped, taking support of the other so that he wouldn't fall down. "He hit something serious inside me. I don't think I can walk this off."

"Will the summons stay if you fall unconscious?" Yahiko asked tensely.

"We will," Zurui answered. "Arashi, summon someone else, we need help."

"Who?" Naruto asked, half blinded by the pain.

"Hissori or Sakkaku," the great fox answered. "I would prefer Gizensha, but he is busy, isn't he?"

"Damn it," Naruto murmured. Thankfully his hand was still soaked with his own blood and the rain hadn't washed it away, and he could without making a new wound summon. Quickly he ran through the hand seals and forcibly pushed the chakra which he no longer could spare to the summoning.

Hissori, the medium sized yellow fox, appeared beside him and almost fell off Zurui's back due to her size. She snarled with surprise and grabbed a tight hold of the bigger fox's back in attempt to stay still. "What the hell, Arashi?" she snapped. "What are you doing, summoning people to the backs of others? Have you no manners?"

"Sorry, sorry," Naruto panted, almost out of strength. "Not exactly in the state to mind my manners."

"Later, Hissori," Zurui snapped. "Take Arashi and see what you can do about his wound - I must go aid Koukatsu. You, human," he said, glancing at Yahiko. "What ninjutsu do you use?"

"Suiton," Yahiko answered, glancing at Naruto with slight confusion

"That's next to no use," the fox murmured. "Regardless, come with me. I see how I can use you."

"Cocky folk, your summons," Yahiko murmured to Naruto while helping the wounded Fox Sage to Hissori's back. "Are you going to be alright?"

"Hissori can temporarily fix the wound," Naruto answered tiredly while taking hold of the yellow fox's fur. "I'll be back to help you, just give us five minutes."

"You can have ten," Yahiko answered sternly, before Hissori jumped off Zurui's back, and the bigger black fox rushed forward, Yahiko on his back. Distantly Naruto could hear the two of them exchanging strategies and was somewhat amused by the thought of Yahiko and Zurui, who was pretty strategy savvy, exchanging tactics. Twinge of pain took the thought away as Hissori reached back with her head and took him into her jaws.

"Careful, I'm wounded here," he grumbled, a little startled as she settled him upon her front paw.

"Stop whining and let me have a look at you," she answered, nudging him to turn and dutifully Naruto showed her his back, barely withholding the cry of pain as she poked her nose against the wound. "Little thing," she said, seeming satisfied. "I can cover this up in no time. Face me."

Naruto did and looked up to her eyes. Usually Hissori was hard for him to work with; her illusions tended to be so strong that Naruto had no chance of avoiding them and got dragged into them along with their enemies. But that time he was more than relieved that he had next to no ability of blocking her Genjutsu, as the illusion washed over him and seemed to take the wound away.

"I can't cover the next one, so try not to be stabbed again. Also, don't push yourself. The wound is still there even if you can't feel it anymore, and you might end up killing yourself if you go overboard," she warned.

"I'll try to be moderate," Naruto answered while standing up and climbing to her back. "Come on, let's go help the others."

The fight turned into a chaos very quickly. The Shinobi Hanzo had brought with him were all masters of Ninjutsu and even without Hanzo and his lizard's there to make things difficult, they would've been thought opponent to face. Koukatsu and Zurui were trying their best, but the salamanders were both old and adjusted to battle while the foxes were relatively new at being summoned. Both sides were wounded by the time Naruto rejoined the fight, but neither was about to give in. And in the mean while, Yahiko was more than busy with the Shinobi, barely able to keep up facing them.

Hissori ran right into the battle and while Naruto assessed the situation, she was already weaving her Genjutsu. As she roared and seemed to breathe out horde of smaller foxes that rushed at their opponents, Naruto hurriedly started making hand seals. His north wind attack blew hidden by the illusionary foxes and froze few of the Rain Shinobi to the lake's surface. There Yahiko, who had left Zurui's size, caught them with a pair of prison scroll, before turning to meet yet another Shinobi's Suiton jutsu with his own.

Hanzo, however, wasn't watching the battle go by idly. While his salamanders fought against Koukatsu and Zurui, their battle making the entire lake quake, the salamander summoner was already aiming for Naruto. Naruto felt momentary annoyance but pushed it aside. It was better that the man concentrated on him, rather than already overwhelmed Yahiko. "Better," the man said while rushing towards Naruto with a kunai in hand. The man was _skating_ across the water's surface, faster than anyone else Naruto had ever seen. "I would've been disappointed if you had been taken out easily, Fox Sage."

"I'm glad I didn't let you down then," Naruto growled, barely in time to take out his own kunai to meet the one aiming for him. His attack stopped thus, Hanzo jumped back, Suiton jutsu already on his lips. For a moment Naruto wondered why Hanzo suddenly seemed overwhelmingly strong, but then he realised. Unlike during their previous encounters, Hanzo wasn't there just to check things out or because of some elaborate plan. This time the man was aiming to kill.

"Come on!" Hanzo yelled at him as Naruto dodged the water attack. "Are you truly this weak?"

"Weak, huh?" Naruto growled and created couple of clones. If Hanzo was there to kill him, he would gladly return the favour, Akatsuki policies be damned. He held out both of his hands and the clones immediately begun moulding his charka into spheres. "You want power, I'll give you power," he muttered and ignored the drain of chakra. He was almost out already; this would be the last attack he'd be able to make. "Let's see you handle this!"

Hanzo's eyes narrowed at the sight of the two Rasengans spinning away on Naruto's palms. "That again," the man murmured. "You don't think I will merely stand here, waiting to be hit?" Then, with a raised eyebrow, he turned and ran - towards Yahiko, who was turned to face attack coming from one of Hanzo's men and thus had his back towards the upcoming attack.

"Shit - Hissori!" Naruto yelled, the Rasengans fading to nothing. He reached for his pouch for a weapon, but his hands grasped hold of something even better. "Throw me after him, quick!"

The fox only glanced at him before spinning around sharply. Her thick tail slammed against Naruto's back and the force of the blow was enough to send Naruto flying, only barely able to control the rapid flight to get where he wanted. He almost slammed against Yahiko, throwing the orange haired Akatsuki leader out of Hanzo's attack's way - and inserting himself right to its path.

There was a sickening sound before Naruto's mouth filled with blood. Hanzo smiled. "I was wondering whether you would. The rest of your little group all happily threw themselves on the way to protect this orange haired idiot... I wasn't sure if you would, Fox Sage," the man said at him, kunai now buried in Naruto's stomach. "But it seems you too are a predictable fool. Now," the man twisted his hand, making Naruto cry out. "Die!"

Naruto grimaced gasping with the pain and then grinned. "Fool, maybe," he answered, blood running down his chin behind his fox mask. Weakly, he took hold of Hanzo's wrist. "But I've seen this scene play too many times not to know what to do. You don't think I would just stand here, waiting to die?"

The Rain's leader's eyes widened and hurriedly he tried to pull away, but it was too late. By flick of his wrist, Naruto opened the Prison Scroll and sent it wrapping around Hanzo, who only had to time to curse bitterly before he vanished, sealed inside. With somewhat anticlimactic snap, the scroll rolled shut, leaving no sight of Hanzo to be seen.

"Got you," Naruto grunted while snatching the scroll from the air. With the last of his strength he managed to hide the scroll back in his pouch, before his knees gave in and the water suddenly came up at him. As the water surrounded him, dyed red with his blood, he wondered idly if he was going to back into his bloody mindscape when he died.

xx

Merry Christmas! Sorry for the wait, I haven't been writing this story in months, but I still got some material in store to push out out on special occasions. Like Christmas. This story isn't abandoned, though, far from it, just on one of those breaks my stories tend to go when my attention runs off to frolic with another fandom.

My apologies for possible grammar errors and such.


	15. Strange calm

**Strange calm  
**

When Naruto woke up, the first thing he felt was relief. There was a stone ceiling above him which meant that he was alive and not in his bloody mindscape, which was good. The next feeling was pain, searing across his stomach and back and almost making him vomit. He probably would've, hadn't his stomach been empty.

Whining softly with the pain, he glanced down and then lifted the bedcovers covering him. He was bandaged and by the looks of it his wounds weren't completely healed - the bandage was slightly reddened in the middle. With a sigh, he lowered the covers again. When had been the last time he had been actually hospitalised? When he had used Rasenshuriken for the first time, and that had lasted only few hours so that Tsunade could bandage the broken arm. Before that it had been... after Valley of the End. That was about it, he supposed. For a Shinobi wounded as many times as he tended to, he rarely needed actual healing.

He leaned back down with another sigh. Not for the first time, he missed the Kyuubi with every cell of his being. Agony of loneliness and risk of unleashing demon upon the world aside, the healing chakra had been very useful. It felt oddly hypocritical and wrong of him to think so, like he was cheating on someone somehow, but he felt _weak_ without the demon fox.

"I see our hero of the hour is awake," Konan's voice intruded his musings and Naruto looked up to see her walking towards his bed. "You gave us quite a scare, Arashi-san."

"Hero of the hour?" Naruto asked, not daring to try and sit up.

"You sealed Hanzo - and saved Yahiko's life. The gang's been celebrating nearly non-stop since," she chuckled, sitting down to the bed's edge. "Pretty honourable thing to do, wouldn't you say?"

"Hm. I suppose," Naruto mused and winced. "I would've preferred to come out of it with little fewer wounds, though. Yahiko-san is alright, right?" he then asked, and sighed with relief as the woman nodded. "That's good. How about you, and Nagato-san? And everyone else? How long have I been out of it?"

"Not long, only about a day. We lost three members in the attack, but aside from them the rest survived with injuries. Nagato and I are both fine, no need to worry," she said while pulling the covers back to inspect his wounds. "Worry about yourself instead. Yahiko was able to bring you in pretty soon after you collapsed so you didn't manage to aggravate your wounds too badly, but they are still serious. Especially the one on your back. Both will leave nasty scars, but the one on your back, well... it will take a while to heal."

Naruto nodded, though the idea of having _scars_ at all was a new and somewhat novel for him. The only scars he had ever had were the ones on his cheek, and they were more like birthmarks or tattoos than scars. He had never had _battle_ _scars_ as those had been always healed by the Kyuubi. "I guess my beach going days are over," he sighed mock morosely.

She chuckled, smoothing the bandage. "You are lucky," she then said quietly. "You almost died of the blood loss, not to mention about the damage done to your insides. You almost lost a kidney, you know."

"Please, no hospital talk," Naruto said. "Just say I can still eat ramen, I don't really care about the rest."

"You can still eat ramen. Just not in a while," Konan answered, patting his hand. "Also you will be in bed rest for about a week - and we won't let you on the field for at least a month."

"You need me out there," Naruto answered with a frown. "I'm the only summoner you have."

"We'll make do," she said sternly. "We don't need you so badly that we'd work you to death."

Naruto eyed her for a moment before sighing and nodding. "Alright," he murmured. "What happened with Hanzo? Do we still have him or was the scroll released back to the Hidden Rain?"

"No. Yahiko wants to make example of him - the scroll will stay with Akatsuki for now," Konan said. "After you lost consciousness, he also sealed the rest of the people attacking us. It won't make us popular, I'll say that. It won't probably take longer than few days before the Rain attacks us again in order to get their leader back... But there is a chance that with Hanzo gone, they will fall into disarray and maybe start fighting over who will succeed him. Hopefully they will be too busy to bother us in that case."

Naruto nodded and closed his eyes, swallowing down the bitter taste of blood. "Well, who ever succeeds him, let's hope they're not as bad as Hanzo," he said. He had always imagined Yahiko would be the one to succeed Hanzo, but of course it didn't work out like that. They were a rebel group, after all, and there was probably a whole line of people who had drooled after Hanzo's position, ready to try and claim it any moment.

"Hard to be worse than him," Konan murmured.

Naruto chuckled mirthlessly. "Not really," he answered, thinking of Pain and the dark Akatsuki and Orochimaru and Madara.

"Well... who knows," she said and sighed before smiling down to him. "Are you going to be alright, Arashi-san? With you I can't tell whether you will enjoy month of no work or if you will sneak out the moment we have our backs turned."

"With me it's usually the latter you gotta worry about," Naruto answered, gingerly touching his stomach. "But not this time. I think I'd knock myself out trying to sit up right now."

"I don't know if that's good or bad," Konan murmured, half worried and half amused. "Do I need to strap you down just to be sure?"

"Kinky, but no thanks. Don't worry, Konan-san. I can keep myself busy," Naruto assured with a laugh. "There's something I've been meaning to do anyway, but hasn't gotten the chance. This will give me the time," he said then, thinking about Kuda the pipe fox and sealing, and the fact that he had reputation of the Prison Scroll's creator to live up to. "I need to get some studying done."

**x**

It wasn't exactly easy to stay behind while others went to out, Naruto soon found. And there were lot to do. Even with Rain temporarily in too much of a disarray to be a bother anymore and Leaf had now completely withdrawn, there were still Sand and Rock to worry about. And with two adversaries temporarily out of the picture, Sand and Rock had gotten cocky and were making their moves faster. Both seemed to be in hurry to secure as much of their territory as possible, pushing further towards the centre of the country all the while marking the land they had already claimed with their defences.

Naruto only heard about it all in second had - about the new Rock fortressed in north and the mass evacuations in south where the poisons were spreading. One entire Rain village had been completely turned upside down and turned into Rock's strong hold, with two of the moving fortresses standing in guard of it. Two Akatsuki members fell victim to the poisons while helping the mass evacuation in south - one got antidote in time, other died a day after poisoning. And they weren't the only things happened nor the only trouble Akatsuki interfered with - nor was that poisoned member the only one to die in the following weeks.

But all Naruto could do was instruct - which he wasn't that good at - and distract himself from the things he couldn't do anything about. Mostly he distracted himself with Kuda. The pipe fox's summoning had taken more out of Naruto than it would've had he been healthy - and the vicious little furry snake demanded pint of blood each week for his troubles - but it was well worth it. Jiraiya had only taught Naruto the bare essentials of Sealing. Kuda picked up from where he had left on.

"I don't need to learn all of it," Naruto said to the pipe fox who often grumbled about how mere month was no way long enough to teach everything. "Just enough so that I _could've _created the Prison Scrolls."

"That will take more than a month too - and besides, I'm not happy you taking the credit for that. I put lot of hard work creating those seal arrays," Kuda murmured, though he seemed to be proud in that way foxes sometimes were. They appreciated all things cunning so when Naruto lied or pretended - or took the credit of someone else's work - they only thought that it was a very _fox-like thing to do_, and thus to be congratulated. "But month will be enough time to teach you to bluff knowledge about seals convincingly. Now, tell me what you know about seals and I will fill in the rest."

Kuda was very happy to find that Naruto knew very little of Fuuinjutsu. Though he knew how to make storage scrolls, summoning scrolls and now the Prison Scrolls, he didn't _understand_ them. Mostly he was just copying mindlessly what he had seen others do - and though he did know little bit of sealing theory, he didn't know enough to explain how a storage scroll worked or exactly why his summoning scrolls worked the way they did. Even though he had more or less created the scroll that summoned him in person, even that had been more luck than skill.

So, in the first week while Naruto was in bed rest and thus incapable of escaping the vicious little pipe fox, Kuda took great pleasure in pointing out his every mistaken belief and explaining in slowest way possible what was right and how sealing worked and so forth. Though the fox mocked him endlessly, Naruto didn't mind the slowness of the tutelage that much, even if Kuda did take the habit of taking to him like he was an infant. Studying wasn't his forte and the slowness gave him the chance to actually internalise the new information.

Still, he was happy when ever someone, anyone, came to visit him and thus give him a perfect excuse of taking a break. Sometimes the visitors were the leaders or the other members who visited him to keep him informed about what was happening. Most often than not it was his former students, who were almost all now learning under other people. They mostly visited to get some instructions and pointers and have him explain chakra control to them one more time because they couldn't get this or that jutsu right. There was one, however, who didn't have another teacher and who visited him because he was the only one who could teach her properly.

Shiryoku had mastered the basics of Senjutsu to the point where she could walk around without help and never run into anything. It was slow process though, and unlike Naruto who could be running and still feel the nature's energy around him, she lost her concentration if she even walked too fast. Naruto suspected that his own skill of being aware of the nature's energy no matter how distracted he ought to be was because he was actual master of Senjutsu and had actual Sage form but that didn't stop him from trying to help her get better.

"Will I ever become a true Sage like you, Arashi-sensei?" she asked after spending few hours in meditation. "Will I have a Sage form?"

"Not any time soon," Naruto answered while frowning down to an array of seals Kuda had him copying. His calligraphy was atrocious, apparently, and he needed to hone it. "Firstly, you should wait until you've grown a little more - maybe even past your puberty altogether. And even after that it takes time and patience to get that point. You might have Sage Form one day, but not in years."

The blind girl frowned - or seemed to anyway, it was hard to tell as she didn't have eyebrows left. "But I want to learn how to fight," Shiryoku said. "I don't want to be useless anymore."

Naruto chuckled. "You don't need to be a Sage to be able to fight, Shiryoku. You don't even need to know Senjutsu at all. Trust me, once your senses are good enough and you can feel everything around you without much a problem, I will teach you how to fight myself."

"You promise?" she asked quietly.

"I promise.

Shiryoku became officially known as his pupil after that, but Naruto didn't really mind. Despite her disadvantages, she was a good girl and was taking into what little chakra control they had taught to her like fish to water. With little bit of nudging she would become a great Shinobi - and if she got rid of her fears somewhere along the way, she might really become a Sage too, one day. There were worse kids he could've had as his first student.

**x**

Two weeks after Naruto had been injured - and month and a half after the wall of Rain had been broken - whatever Leaf was doing took effect. Battles ceased without explanation and odd, confused quiet fell over former battle fields. Rain's civilians and Shinobi, both official and un-official, watched with deep bewilderment as the forces of Sand and Rock started withdrawing back beyond the borders, just as confused as they were.

There were many theories about what had happened. Some believed that Leaf had used Rain as distraction, breaking down the border wall and pretending to be preparing for something so that Sand and Rock would move their main forces to the land - as they had. And then, with most of the forces occupied, Leaf had attacked the enemy villages themselves. Others believed that Leaf had sabotaged supply routes, or tampered with the market or done something similar and started choking the two other nations by taking away their goods. Some believed that Leaf had assassinated both Sand and Rock council. No one knew for sure. But peace came, confused and stilted but still there. Not just a ceasefire, but full peace.

"Wasn't it something like this with the First Great War too?" someone asked. "When the war ended no one really knew why, right?"

"Shinobi wars," another snorted in answer. "Most of the fighting happens in the shadows, and most of the alliances are made in shadows. And in the end, the peace treaties are signed in shadows too. It wouldn't surprise me much of Leaf really had blackmailed Rock and Sand somehow to make the peace."

Yahiko thought differently, but didn't let his thoughts known to many. "What always baffled me most about this war was where the hell they got the funds for it," he spoke over a saucer of sake which was his quiet, slightly perplexed celebration. "Dozen years of war with only three ceasefires during it. That sort of thing ought to choke any nation to death. I think it finally did. The last ceasefire was put in motion because they almost ran out of funds and couldn't continue financing the campaigns. Sand spend most of the ceasefire trying to raise money, didn't it? That's probably why they used so much poisons anyway, they ran out of metal and prices being what they are... they couldn't make proper weapons."

He took a sip of the sake. "When the war finally continued... it was enough to drain the last of everyone's capital," he said. "Except for Leaf. And they used that against Rock and Sand."

"What's so different about Leaf?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Fame and location. Why do you think everyone is always at Leaf's throat? It's standing surrounded by smaller nations," Yahiko snorted. "Most which have no Shinobi villages of their own. And with Wind Country being mostly deserts, and Village Hidden in Rocks is nearly impossible to get to... Hidden Leaf is the only Shinobi village of the five great nations that isn't actually hidden, you know. The whole world knows where it is. And it's not without reason. When those smaller nations need help, who do you think they go to, the hard to get to villages, or the one in plain sight?"

The orange haired leader shook his head. "It's almost as if someone designed it so," he muttered. "Because of the easy access, Leaf is the most prosperous of all Shinobi villages. It gets most missions. That's why it's so hated, that's why all other nations want to take it over. That's why everyone bet on Hidden Leaf. It's chances of success are always good, even if all four other great nations turn against it."

Naruto had never thought of it like that, but when he did, it did make sense. Except for one thing. If Leaf was so prosperous, why did it look like patchwork guilt most of the time? The only buildings that hadn't been covered in signs of repair were the newest ones or the ones opened by big clans like Uchiha and Hyuuga. The rest looked like slums even the best of days.

Probably because it was filled with strong and often less than sane Shinobi.

The celebrations of peace lasted for a while, though they were very odd celebrations to be having as no one had any idea why the war had in the end ended. As they pondered, rumours from the neighbour nations came in. Leaf, Sand and Rock Countries were in process of writing new peace treaties in the Land of Iron, and by the sound of it Leaf was coming out on top. In the mean while the smaller nations were picking up the pieces. The River Country had instated a poison removal institute to try and repair the damage Sand had done and in other nations similar things were taking place. All except for Rain which stood still and silent like hare caught in lantern light.

Akatsuki kept on moving, but it was jerking and confused process, as they couldn't help but fear that any moment now the war would start again, the so called peace having been nothing but a sham or a ceasefire after all. They helped in repairs and those evacuated from their homes were taken back. The Prison Scrolls captured in the last days of the war, along with whole bunch of release tags, were send to every country whose Shinobi they had captured, even to Rain itself except for one scroll. Yahiko wasn't about to release Hanzo, and Naruto was glad for it.

The Fox Sage himself kept on healing until finally he was announced ready for active duty. By that time, however, the official peace treaty had been signed and there were no fights for him to fight, no villages to protect. There was stillness as no one seemed to know what to do. Hidden Rain was without leader, Akatsuki's goal had came true, and no one knew what would follow. Some of the gang members were murmuring about going back to their homes, but something held them back, something kept them wary. Somehow they all knew that it wasn't over yet.

"What happens now?" someone finally asked quietly.

"Now we wait and see whether or not they will want Hanzo back and if not, who they will put in charge of Hidden Rain," Yahiko answered.

**x**

Naruto didn't understand much about politics, not even the ones which concerned the selection of Kages and Shinobi village leaders, but Yahiko was very good with them - and not too annoyed about explaining them which was also a plus.

"Essentially who succeeds matter of three things. Power, fame and connections," he said. "Of course no one wants a weak leader for a village full of Shinobi, so only the strongest of the top are ever even considered. However that's not all. Even if you have the strongest Shinobi in the world, that strength means nothing if no one knows anything about him. But what can put a mediocre leader on the seat of a ninja village is connections. Who knows them and who owes favours to them."

He folded his arms and continued: "Hanzo became Hidden Rain's leader by default one could say," he said. "He was powerful, well known and feared. His salamander summons were known even in the larger nations and what really made him famous was his speed on water and his traps. Sure, later on he became known for paranoia but before that he was known as strong Shinobi to be feared. When it came time to select a leader for Rain, he was chosen unanimously because no one dared to go against him or his fame."

However, Hanzo, it turned out, was the only Shinobi in Rain of that level. The second best was either Yahiko, Nagato or Naruto, none whom were official Rain ninja. And with most of Rain's official Shinobi were either high level Jounin level or Chuunin. None of them were the level of the Kages. And the fact that Hanzo had never trusted anyone to be neither his advisor or his second gave none of them any rights to succeed.

Yahiko shook his head. "So far they seem happy not to get Hanzo back. He might've been powerful, but he wasn't exactly well liked and the fact that he _was_ powerful caused some trouble in it's own right. If Hanzo and the Hidden Rain had been mediocre, no one would've bothered dragging them into the war in the first place. But he made Hidden Rain strong and thus a target which very few were happy about. Not to mention about the goddamned wall he built which almost ended up choking us," he shrugged. "So, they don't want him back, at least. Not that I mind, Rain will be better without him. The problem is who will succeed him. Right now it's the matter of connections and not power or fame, so..."

"Do you know any possible candidates?" one of the newest members asked curiously.

"That's the problem. There aren't any _candidates_. Only those who _want_ the position," their leader shrugged. "Hanzo never let anyone of his underlings get too powerful or too famous - and if they grew too influential, he had them killed. That's why, he's pretty much the only Rain Shinobi who is known at all. That leaves us with whole slew of shinobi we know nothing about. The winner will be the one who has most influence. It might be the son of important politician of the Rain Daimyo's court. Or it might be a weapon maker who creates most of Hidden Rain's Weapons. Or it might be someone with connections to the builder who made Hanzo's stupid wall. It's impossible to know for sure before they actually select someone."

They found few days later why no one wanted Hanzo back. After the fact that he had been sealed by Akatsuki had became common knowledge, two very important things had happened. First was the descent of Hanzo's fame in the eyes of everyone who knew him. Even if Akatsuki was growing more powerful, they were still that freedom-fighter group with weak ideals, the punch of sentimentalist who didn't kill. In other words, in the eyes of everyone else, Akatsuki was _weak_. And the fact that Hanzo had been beaten by them lowered his stature in people's eyes quite a bit. The second thing, however, was even more important.

The Rain Daimyo, who had more power now that Hanzo no longer had a kunai at his throat, spoke against Hanzo in long, ferocious speeches, turning the entire civilian noble court against him. The man might've been little more than puppet in Hanzo's plans before, but now he was moving fast and relentlessly to gain some control over his country. And he was not happy of the damage Hanzo had done to the country's economy with his wall. The entire country was more or less dirt poor thanks to the former leader of Hidden Rain - and though it had never been exactly rich before, it had done well for itself for being so small. Not anymore, thought, and once that realisation dawned, the entire Daimyo's court had begun speaking against Hanzo. Once the rest of the civilians joined the tune... it had been too late for Hanzo.

No one wanted Hanzo back, and no one demanded the access to his prison scroll. It remained within Akatsuki hideout, and by all appearances the whole of Rain was happy with that. Even the man's strongest supporters had quieted down under the wrath of entire nation.

"If he some how returned to power right now, they'd stone him out," someone muttered amusedly. "It's hilarious but he's actually safer in that scroll now than he'd be if he were free."

"It'd be a whole different tune they would sing if he was free," others reminded him darkly. "There's a reason why none of this came up before."

The fighting over Hanzo's title continued almost for a month before a man was selected. His name was Keishi and he was one of Hanzo's former underlings, who apparently was distantly related to the Rain Daimyo. People seemed content with the selection as first as the man seemed both strong and level headed - and somewhat known too. He even sent out Rain's Shinobi to help rebuilding and detoxifying the villages that had suffered in the war, which in the eyes of the civilians was a very good thing to do. All in all, he seemed like a good choice.

Then Keishi announced that in honour of the former leader he would have the Rain Country's border wall rebuilt.

xx

I must warn you, now that the war is more or less over, there will be less action for a long while. Also, in process of writing this chapter, I discovered that politics are fun, so there will be quite bit of those ahead. Oh, and people seem to think that I've made Naruto too weak or something like that, since he got so badly wounded in fighting with Hanzo. It wasn't my intention to make Naruto weak - I only intended to make Hanzo strong. He's the guy who beat the Three Legendary Ninja all by himself, after all, the guy who named the Three Legendary Ninja. Though, I suppose Naruto of this story is currently sort of average - as in, high jounin level average. I like him that way. Side effecnt of too many super!Naruto fics gone horribly, horribly wrong, probably.

I know today's not exactly a special day, but I've had a sucky week and I need some cheering up, so, what the hell. My apologies for possible grammar errors and such.


	16. The rainy city

**The rainy city  
**

Naruto, who was busier with learning seals, trying to escape Kuda's demands for blood and teach Shiryoku the basics of Taijutsu, wasn't all that well informed about the political situation aside from the rumours he heard. He preferred to leave the worrying about that to the three leaders who were better at understanding stuff like that, and instead use the quiet time to his advantage. But even he knew that something was going on when Yahiko called the Akatsuki together and told them that the Daimyo had contacted him.

"He wants to have a meeting with Akatsuki leaders, that being me, Konan and Nagato," he said. "I can't tell for sure, but I have a feeling this will have something to do about Rain's current political situation."

"And that idiot Keishi!" someone called out and a rumble ran through the crowd.

"Probably," Yahiko agreed with a faint smile. "It might be that he wants to break up Akatsuki or that he wants just our opinion of the matter concerning Hidden Rain - and after what we did in the war, our opinion apparently matters. However it is, this is a chance we can't let slip. I am going to try and have him announce Akatsuki as official organisation, and not just under ground group it is - I will try to get stature and funding and everything else we might need."

A surprised quiet followed before someone let out a rather random, embarrassing cheer. Chuckle ran through the group and Yahiko grinned. "Nice to have your approval," he said with a mocking bow, making more people laugh. "Now, if anyone has problems against the plan or any suggestions, bring them to me today. I will be set out first thing tomorrow with Arashi-san..."

Naruto perked up with surprise and interest. "You will?" he asked eagerly. Ever since healing, he had been bored to death - and chance to run away from Kuda's teaching was more than welcome.

"Yes, I will," the orange haired leader said with a snort of amusement. "You will come with me because you're the most well known of our members and I might be able to use your fame in our advantage. Nagato and Konan on other hand will stay here in case something will go wrong. I also want you, Haruka to join me, as you have some knowledge about Hidden Rain."

The former Hidden Rain Shinobi nodded her consent, and Naruto folded his arms with a smile. He certainly didn't mind and it would be interesting to meet a Daimyo.

Like Yahiko had said, they set out in the morning. Naruto felt a little out of place beside Yahiko and Haruka, both whom were wearing the so called official Akatsuki cloaks. Of course the current ones were plain black with the thick utility belt and had none of the red clouds Akatsuki in the future had in their clothes, but still. Beside them his own orange robe seemed gaudy and out of place - even if orange was the coolest colour ever. On top of that, Naruto was wearing his fox mask and had his umbrella with him, setting him just a little more apart.

Usually he didn't much care about that, but Yahiko had especially told him to wear the clothes and the mask and even had one of the Akatsuki members who were good with fixing stuff take look at Naruto's umbrella. "You're the Fox Sage and everyone knows what the Fox Sage looks like," the orange haired leader said while inspecting the visual Naruto made. "So let's have you looking like you ought to."

The words made Naruto feel a little like Yahiko had somehow turned him into a brightly coloured banner. He didn't _mind_ exactly, but it made him feel a bit self-conscious. He hadn't even realised what sort of fame he had gained at the Fox Sage before Yahiko had decided to make use of it. It had certainly not been his intention to become famous, though.

The Rain capital had seen battle, Naruto could immediately tell when they entered the town. It was one of the territories where Hanzo had been moving diligently during the war, so it was the first time he had seen the place. He didn't know how it usually looked, but the ruins of crumbled buildings and the numerous construction sites were probably a new addition - as was the new main street with which cut through the entire town and was surrounded by ruins of former buildings. It was like a scar in the face of the capital.

"One of the Rock's moving fortresses went right through this place," Yahiko explained, and nothing else needed to be said.

Though there were few official Rain shinobi around, they only frowned and mumbled to each other at the sight of the Akatsuki members but didn't do anything. One of them gave Naruto a rather obscene gesture, making him wonder where he had seen the woman before. Then he remembered one of the many battles he had interfered with and happily waved back. She had been one of the Rain Shinobi he had had the pleasure of sealing.

"I see you have acquaintances here, Arashi-san?" Haruka asked with mild amusement.

"If that's how you want to call it. That one nearly showed a kunai into my eye when I sealed her," Naruto chuckled. "Nice day today!" he called cheerfully to the woman.

"Burn in hell, you bastard!" she answered.

They were greeted by an assistant at the gates of the Daimyo's rather massive, twelve-story building which was apparently where the Daimyo worked rather than lived. The man bowed, exchanged some compliments with Yahiko, wanted to see the letter Daimyo had sent to the orange haired Akatsuki leader, and then finally led them inside. "You must be tired and weary from your travel. Please take this chance to freshen while I inform Daimyo Shuutou-dono of your arrival," the assistant said after escorting them into rather simple guest room. Then the man bustled away, probably to the Daimyo.

"So, what should we do?" Naruto asked while checking that his clothes weren't too wrinkled and his mask was clean.

"Let me do the talking for now. I don't know what sort of man the Daimyo is, but he has shown strength of character ever since Hanzo was sealed, so it's better to tread carefully," Yahiko said, running his hand through his hair. "That's about as good plan as we could possibly hope to make at this point."

Thankfully, the Daimyo didn't make him wait for long and soon the secretary came back to lead them to a meeting room. There they met the Rain Daimyo himself. He was a surprisingly young man with keen look about his eyes despite being slightly overweight. He was looking down to a map of the country when they entered.

The man looked up to them and then raised his eyebrow. "You must be Yahiko-san, the famed Akatsuki leader. It's an honour, I must say. I see you've seen fit to leave your two advisors behind," he said, sounding both annoyed and approving at the same time. "But I can't begrudge you for it, it seems, as you brought the legendary Fox Sage with you. Kazama Arashi-sama, is it? It is a privilege."

Thankfully Naruto's mask hid his wordless gawking and Yahiko was more than ready to cover for his lapse of manners. "You're well informed, Shuutou-dono," he answered with a slight bow. "I apologise for Konan's and Nagato's absence, but someone had to stay behind to look after my people."

"Of course, of course, it was foolish of me to think you'd all come," the Daimyo waved the apology aside and then motioned them to come closer. "Come and sit. I have lot I with to discuss with you. Tell me, Yahiko-san, what do you think of Keishi?"

"The current leader of Hidden Rain, Shuutou-dono?" Yahiko asked carefully. "I think... he is trying to be a good leader."

"He is being an idiot - the only reason he lend his shinobi to aid us _civilians_ is because he owed me a favour," the Daimyo muttered with surprising bitterness. He grimaced. "He's my cousin twice removed, and thinks that because of that he's someone high and mighty, apparently. Rebuilding the wall, honestly..."

Yahiko smiled faintly. "I see my lord doesn't approve," he said.

"Hell, of course I don't. It was a struggle to keep people just _fed_ after Hanzo put that idiotic wall up. Oh, sure, it seemed like a good idea at the time, a barrier between us and our enemies. And then up went the prices, down went the imports and suddenly the entire country was out of food. We paid almost thousand ryo for a cup of rice at the worse times - thousand ryo! And our export costs got so high that no one would buy anything from us - it was a disaster," Shuutou spat. "And in the end, how long did the wall stand? Its construction lasted longer than its durability!"

The Daimyo slapped the map. "The wall cannot be put up again. In the time it's been down, we've managed to secure some of our former trade, but the economy is still in the pits and now our goods have to be sold too cheap," he muttered. "We'd be knee deep in debts if Hanzo hadn't been so goddamned paranoid - though what good does that do when we can barely support ourselves? If the wall is put up again, I will soon have to go to beg the River Daimyo for financial aid, and I don't much care for that prospect."

"Then stop Keishi from building the wall," Yahiko said, shaking his head.

Shuutou snorted. "Little I can do to stop him. The Hidden Rain's now head over heels with him after he got the support from civilians - and he doesn't even need much of funds to build the wall. All the materials are there after all, lying in useless heaps along the border for anyone to take." He shook his head. "With Hanzo's plans, he can have his shinobi build it. It might take longer than Hanzo took, but he can get it done. He's already started the reconstruction here, where the border is closest to Hidden Rain..."

Naruto leaned his elbows to the table while leaning forward to see the map the lord was pointing at. He had never known where the Hidden Rain Village was. Apparently it had been built in middle of a lake.

"I can understand your dilemma," Yahiko finally said after a moment of thought. "But though you seem angry, you don't seem distraught. I take it you have a plan of stopping the wall from being rebuild... something that concerns the Akatsuki."

"No one has forgotten what you people did during the war - and it was certainly more than Hanzo did," the Daimyo said. "You stopped fights, you protected villages, you helped with evacuations. I don't know if it's true what they say about the hideouts and the field hospitals, but either way, you saved countless lives - and, or so the rumours tell, didn't take a single one yourself. Not to mention about the things he," the Daimyo pointed towards Naruto, who almost jumped, "did. Right now, if you tell the civilians to run, they run, if you tell them to jump, they jump. It's more than Hidden Rain can say."

Yahiko listened quietly before finally asking. "What of it?"

"I want you to start another rumour. Something that will stop the building of the wall. If you say that the wall shouldn't be rebuilt, they will believe you," Shuutou answered. "I don't know if it will be enough, but it will slow down the process if nothing else."

"Just that?" Yahiko asked, raising his eyebrows.

"It's only thing I can think of that might work," the Daimyo answered.

"Then you're not thinking like a poor man," Akatsuki's leader said, gaining a slightly outraged look from the lord. Yahiko lifted his hand to stop the man's arguments. "Just listen to me, my lord. You're only thinking about the wall and that it should not be build, and I understand that. You're adjusted to being under Hanzo's power, that has made you think subtly. However, this is too subtle. If you want the wall to not be build, the simply _stop it_. You are the Daimyo. This is your country. Hidden Rain and Keishi are _your_ subjects."

"It doesn't work quite like that," Shuutou answered a little wistfully. "It's hard to order a man who can have you killed in blink of an eye. There's nothing much I can do against Shinobi, you know. I'm only a civilian."

"Oh, for the love of..." Yahiko murmured. "If you're afraid of being assassinated, then hire Shinobi to protect you. It's as easy as that. For that matter, why not hire Shinobi to enforce your will? Shinobi are _mercenaries_, not forces of nature; they do as they're paid to do, not as they want. Hell, any of Akatsuki will be happy to have assignment like that even for a low pay - we're not picky as long as there is no assassinations or anything unsightly involved."

The Daimyo stared at him as if he had spoken a completely different language. Yahiko wasn't done yet. "And as for what comes to the goddamned wall… Keishi wants to rebuild it as so called honorary monument for Hanzo. Use that against him. The wall is only pile of bricks and stones right now, the shape of a wall is in no way embedded in them. You can build something _else_ out of them. A monumental temple or a statue, hell, build perfect replicate of Hidden Leaf's Hokage monument if that interests you. And if you want to be really wise about it; build residential houses out of the wall's remains for those who lost their homes. Or build hospitals, or schools, or orphanages, employment offices, anything. Things which people like to see built, things which give people hope."

Naruto eyed his leader with newfound respect as Yahiko stood up. "We're no longer locked in this country as if in a box," the Akatsuki leader and founder said decisively. "So start thinking outside it. If you have resources, even as orthodox as the remains of that blasted wall, then _use them for something useful._"

The Daimyo blinked and then turned to look down to the map. Then he looked up to Yahiko again, now looking faintly embarrassed. "I see now why your Akatsuki became so famous so fast," he said. "And why a man like him," he glanced at Naruto, "follows you despite being so strong himself..." the overweight man sighed, rubbing his hand over his eyes. "It's a pity you're not the leader of Rain, Yahiko-san. It really is."

"Why not make him the leader, then?" Naruto asked. He was starting to feel annoyed with the respect thrown at him and the way the Daimyo spoke of him, like he was some great mute. Yahiko threw a glare at him but Naruto merely shrugged. "He'd make a better leader of Hidden Rain than Keishi, wouldn't he?"

"It's not that easy Arashi-san," Yahiko muttered, glaring at him. "Akatsuki has many enemies in Hidden Rain."

"Akatsuki has no enemies," Naruto answered, leaning his chin to his knuckles. "Isn't that the organisation policy?"

"Yes, but..." Yahiko grimaced when Haruka leaned forward too, looking intent. "Not you too," the leader snapped at the former Rain-nin.

"It wouldn't be easy," Haruka said, ignoring him. "And Hidden Rain wouldn't approve, of course. But why not make Akatsuki a village of its own? It would be nice to have a permanent place to stay - hell, we could build it out of Hanzo's wall," she grinned wildly. "That would be a perfect monument for the bastard, wouldn't it? A whole new Shinobi village."

"Countries can't have two Shinobi villages," Shuutou said slowly, thoughtfully.

"Says who?" Haruka asked. "And if it's in some sort of proclamation of nations or whatever, then Akatsuki's village can be a normal village, which just happens to have mostly Shinobi living in it. In few years it will grow so big that you can announce it as the official Village Hidden in Rain." She leaned back and folded her arms with a satisfied look about her face. "And then the Shinobi of original Hidden Rain either move to the new village or become missing-nin."

The Daimyo blinked with surprise and then looked even more thoughtful. Yahiko looked between him, Haruka and Naruto and then buried his head in his hands with a groan.

**x**

"The mere idea is ridiculous," Yahiko muttered to Naruto and Haruka later on when they were situated in the guest rooms. Though the Akatsuki leader was more or less glaring at them, the two members were more amused by his distressed pacing than worried about his anger. "Though I suppose my hopes of making Akatsuki an official organisation seem more likely to become reality - next to your overblown dreams, having that happen seems like an easy thing to do. But to create a village of our own... it's just, just… stupid."

"Why?" Naruto asked. "It would be just like big hideout. Which is not particularly hidden. Right? Not that different from what we're doing now."

"There's a bit more than that involved in running a village - and just running a mere _hideout_ isn't as simple as you seem to think it is," Yahiko answered. "Not to mention that to _create_ a village from _nothing_ doesn't just involve building houses and designing particularly confusing streets but there are other things to consider. Food, water, market, hell, waste disposal! And on top of that there ought to be laws and rules..."

"See, not so different from running a hideout," Naruto grinned, and Haruka snorted beside him.

"Just for that I'm tempted to make you the Daimyo's bodyguard," Yahiko muttered at him, throwing a glare at his direction. Then he sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "For now let's concentrate onto the things which are a bit more realistic, shall we? The wall and stopping its construction."

"That's a simple thing, isn't it?" Haruka asked. "You said it yourself; we just ought to build something else out of it. And if it's Keishi's construction you're worried about, we can just sabotage it. That shouldn't be too hard."

"Yes, but we need to decide what do we build out of the remains," Yahiko murmured, frowning. "There's lot of material in them. Of course, not all of it can be used, but still... several hundred miles worth of broken wall. There should really be enough bricks in that to build a village - not that we're going to," he snapped when Naruto and Haruka grinned at him. "Oh, shut up," the Akatsuki leader sighed, falling to sit on the couch beside them, looking sullen.

"I think you ought to start out small and significant," Haruka said. "Use the material of the wall to build a small memorial for those Rain citizens who died in the war. If Keishi argues against it, we can counter that such small amount of material can be replaced - and that surely the memorial will be more meaningful since it's made from the wall..."

"Yeah, and then go up from there. Build a shrine or something," Naruto grinned. "And Keishi can't stop the construction of that sort of thing without angering the gods..."

"And after that you build a big monument, an enormous statue of Hanzo," Haruka nodded, folding her arms and looking solemn. "Who can blame it if it falls over little bit after construction... and has to be rebuild again..."

The Fox Sage snorted, imagining the Hanzo-statue rising and being rebuild over and over again. "The statue should totally be holding a prison scroll," he said with a wicked grin. "And since the statue keeps falling, maybe we ought to build a temple around it, you know, to keep it up straight..."

"I think we've only used few miles worth of wall now," Haruka calculated. "I think we ought to build more shrines, otherwise we end up wasting so much good material."

"Let's build a village of shrines," Naruto nodded. "That ought to do it."

"Yeah. And then we can move in," the female Shinobi grinned.

Yahiko gave them oddly mournful look. "If all official Shinobi are like you two, there is no way in hell I'm becoming the leader of any Shinobi village," he sighed with defeated amusement. "But I'll mention the possibility of building a small monument for the fallen of Rain to the Daimyo. It should appease the people too. Hmm... And if we build it just for the civilians, then Keishi will have to make one of his own for his Shinobi..."

"What about our ninja?" Naruto asked, thinking of the fallen of Akatsuki. "Are we going to build a memorial for them?"

"Of course," Yahiko answered with a frown. "But that one won't be made from Hanzo's leftovers."

**x**

It wasn't until Naruto took a closer look at the capital that he realised just how different the Land of the Rain really was from the Land of the Fire. Of course there was the constant rain to consider and all that, and of course he had had inkling about the differences before, but it hadn't quite sunk in before then. Compared to the Land of Fire, Land of Rain was rather... progressive.

The buildings were tall, almost massive here and there, mostly made from metal and concrete with wood only for doors. The rooftops were all metal; each designed to lead water into correct path ways and down to the sewers. The streets were all covered with asphalt and concrete - where they weren't ruined, that was - and when Naruto thought of it, it seemed to be the Rain standard. Everywhere the streets had a finish that hid the bare ground underneath.

The main difference between Rain and Fire came from the electricity. Sure, Fire had electricity too, for heating and powering technology and so forth. But Rain had _more_ and it was in more extended use. It was standard for every building and every street corner to have electricity; it wasn't just a random add-on like it seemed to be in Hidden Leaf for example. Some of the buildings even had electrical doors and elevators and everything - and none of it was in that form of mix of patchwork it seemed like in Leaf and most of Fire Country towns and villages. The buildings had been created with all that technology in it from the start.

"Well, most of Fire Country's towns and villages are old, and electricity was added to them later on," Haruka explained. "Most of Rain's towns are pretty new, though. The Capital hasn't been around for more than fifty years, actually, so it's hard to find a building here that isn't build with technology integrated into it." She snorted. "You should see Hidden Rain. It's only about thirty years old, and makes this place look pitiful in comparison."

Still despite being pretty advanced in terms of technology, the place wasn't that much different from any other towns Naruto had seen. It still had stores and restaurants and people living in the streets. And despite being made of metal and concrete, the buildings didn't seem any more durable than normal ones, judging by the destruction the war had caused in the place. The people were pretty much the same too; they had pretty much the same problems and same issues. They ate the same food, wore the same fabrics even if slightly different manner, and generally did the same things. So, it took a little more work to fix their broken houses and often required the help of heavy construction machinery. It was a little difference.

They also, Naruto found to his amusement, dismissed the same literature. While examining one badly damaged book store, he found the Tale of the Gutsy Ninja in a basket marked as seventy-percent-discount. While buying it and few other books he thought his former students might like, and one which he thought he could maybe use to teach Shiryoku how to at least count, Naruto wondered where the Toad Sage was and what he was doing. Probably back in the Village Hidden in Leaves.

Fighting a strange belated homesickness, Naruto re-read the Tale of the Gutsy Ninja that night and rememorized all the reasons why he loved the book - and re-learned the reason why it had made him bawl the first time he had read it.

**x**

Yahiko and Daimyo Shuutou schemed against Keishi for a day or so, before Yahiko finally grew annoyed with the lord's hesitating and simply had Haruka spread rumours about Shuutou deciding to build a monument for the people who had been killed in the war. In the mean while Naruto, who suddenly found himself being the centre of attention, familiarised himself with the capital and made himself even better known and liked by offering help in the construction - and man as a who could produce up to half thousand able bodied workers out of nothing he became very well liked in very short time - and very well known.

It was all part of the scheme, of course. Yahiko, who was proving out to have a political sense as big as the capital itself, was milking Naruto's fame for all it was worth, and eventually had Naruto too seed the idea of using the broken wall's remains for the monument into the minds of the civilians. Naruto didn't have to mention his so called opinion on the matter more than three times before it became well known in the capital and everyone were starting to agree. After all, if the Fox Sage thought it was a good idea of making a monument out of the wall's remains, then it obviously was a good idea.

"Not a real Shinobi my ass. He's worse than just about any Shinobi I've ever met," Naruto muttered later to Haruka.

"I think Yahiko's more of a politician than a Shinobi - or maybe an idealist… which might be even worse," she answered, stretching her arms. "Not that he isn't strong, hell no. It's just he was _born_ to do this."

Naruto wasn't the only one Yahiko was making use of. Haruka had been used just as diligently in the Akatsuki leader's plans. She had been more or less spreading rumours among the Shinobi of Hidden Rain who resided in the town, speaking to them about what it was like to be apart of the Akatsuki and how she had never felt so good about being Shinobi before. The official Shinobi of the Rain often merely scoffed at the mere idea, but the idea of doing something _because it was right_ rather than _because it paid well_ didn't fall to completely deaf ears. One of the official Shinobi even approached Naruto on the matter.

"They say you're not from Rain originally," the Shinobi hesitatingly said to one of Naruto's clones who were supervising the work of dozen others. They were helping set up the support beams of one of the newer apartment buildings. "And that you came here specifically to join Akatsuki. Why?"

"I heard about them from one of the Leaf's Legendary Three Ninja," the clone answered. "About them and what they were doing. And after all I've seen and done, it seemed like the closest thing to an honourable way of being a Shinobi." He shook his head and then, for dramatic effect, he reached beyond the edge of his paper umbrella to touch the rain that never stopped. "Wading in ocean of blood might strike glorious for some. But I'll rather let the rain wash away the blood from my hands."

Unintentionally in that conversation he seeded a new belief among the Shinobi of Rain. The country of Rain was considered gloomy and grim because of the endless downpour - like the entire country was crying upon them. With that one little conversation, he turned it around and instead of being the tears of the country, the rain gained the meaning of purification. Naruto decided to watch for his words after all. With his fame attached to them, they seemed to gain a life of their own without his intention.

"This being famous, thing… At the risk of breaking my childhood-self's heart; I don't think I care for it much," he murmured later on to Haruka. "People will get over it, right? I mean, they won't be like that all the time, right? They will eventually move on and leave me alone… right?"

She grinned, patting his back in mocking comfort, and didn't answer. She didn't really need to, though. The entire Country of Rain had so little _good_ in it for a long while that now that they had Akatsuki and the Fox Sage, they weren't about to let go of them.

It wasn't a surprise when the news of what they were doing eventually reached Hanzo's successor and Keishi appeared to the capital, escorted by dozen Shinobi, and full of righteous anger. He, like all of official Rain Shinobi, wore a breathing apparatus over his face which worked rather like a mask, hiding half of his features. What did show, however, showed a middle aged man with dark brown hair and piercing green eyes.

"I have heard of your little project, Shuutou. How dare you?" the man spat after marching in to the meeting room, where the Daimyo, Yahiko and Naruto were having afternoon tea. "To build something so useless out of the remains of that great wall, ludicrous! And what more, here I find you, scheming away with this rebel group! I ought to have you arrested, Shuutou!"

The Daimyo seemed momentarily too startled to say anything, but Yahiko certainly wasn't. He jumped up to his feet and banged his hands against the table. "You ill-mannered grunt, have you no shame?" he spat back, looking outraged. "Barging into the lord daimyo's house like you owned it and addressing Shuutou-dono as if he was below you! Were I not a Shinobi and a Samurai instead, I'd challenge you to a duel for this disgraceful insult!"

While Naruto stared at his leader like he had grown another head which was now singing children's lullabies, the new leader of Rain faltered a little. Then the verbal duel - and really, it couldn't be anything else - was on. Keishi demanded answers and apologies and explanations while Yahiko countered with accusing him of having no manners, after which Keishi accused him of mutiny and theft and murder and half dozen other things, all which Yahiko countered with perfect, dramatic outrage, arguing loudest against the murder. In the mean while, Naruto, Keishi's people and few of Shuutou's servants who had been serving them the tea stared with fascination as if watching a particularly spontaneous theatrical act.

It seemed that during the stay in the Daimyo's house, Yahiko had certainly not been resting idly, Naruto thought. He had been listening, and the longer he went on, the more he sounded like one of the Daimyo's court, talking with unusual amount of stiff politeness like a nobleman or something. Of course Keishi, who had noble blood and apparently had been raised accordingly, knew the motions as well, and thus the polite argument sounded more like well rehearsed play than actual honest to god _fight_.

When Yahiko started a long winded, flowery speech about how the fallen people should be honoured and how Hanzo's wall was the only correct material, for had it not protected them all, and so on and so on… Naruto mourned the fact that he didn't have a recorder. Nagato and Konan and the rest of the gang would've gotten a kick out of hearing their leader speak like that.

"You speak well and with passion, but I cannot permit the construction of this monument," Keishi said after the speech was finished. "Not of the material of the wall at least, it must go into the reconstruction of the new wall. Build your monument of some other stone."

"No other stone would carry such a meaning," Yahiko countered.

"Is it truly the stone that carries the meaning, and not the shape?" Keishi parried. "And should it not be right for a monument to be build of unsullied stone than from one such of wall, that in disgrace fell down?"

"You consider the stone that of disgrace, and yet you wish to rebuild the wall?" was Yahiko's counter attack. "Does that make your monumental wall then a monument of disgrace?"

"Sometimes disgraces ought to remembered for people to learn from them," Keishi defended, but there was a look of dismay on his face. "It matters not; the stone does not belong to you. It belongs to Hidden Rain and it is us to do whatever we will."

"And yet as long as hidden rain stands on the ground of this country, it is part of this country," Yahiko moved on offensive. "And all things within this country fall under the domain of Daimyo Shuutou-dono by right."

"By right, perhaps, by ancient traditions. But not by practice."

"Then perhaps it is time to make ancient traditions the new practice, as the new traditions have obviously became old," Yahiko answered, looking deeply satisfied as leaned back, apparently having won some point in their verbal match.

Keishi frowned and then glanced around, at Shuutou who was faintly smiling and then at Naruto who had been ticking points in his head. Yahiko was on lead with fourteen to twelve, at the moment. The Hidden Rain's leader's eyes narrowed at the sight of him. "I imagine the famed Sage would too side with the ways of the old," he said. It sounded like a challenge.

"The Sage sides with what he believes is right," Naruto answered. Then, for the first time taking full advantage of his newfound fame, he leaned back and folded his arms. "Also, rebuild the wall and I will bring it down," he added with a cheerful tone.

Keishi gave him a wide eyed look. "You would suggest such an offensive, treasonous action out loud?"

"Oh, I'm not from around here originally. What do I know of your laws?" Naruto answered happily. Judging by the amused look Shuutou was giving him and the defeated look on Yahiko's face, he was ignoring just about every single rule of this odd, civil battle field. It worked just fine for him. "I'm a fox, you know. We don't much care for rules. Or walls."

The Hidden Rain's leader gave him a look of consideration. "You have given me much to think of," he then said graciously. "I must think on this. Shuutou… dono," he added, somewhat begrudgingly. "I shall send a word later on if I wish to meet you."

"Alright," Shuutou said. "Do you wish to take residence in the palace? I am afraid Yahiko-san and Kazama-san are occupying the usual guest rooms with their companion, so you would need to stay in the smaller guest rooms…" he seemed to take great pleasure from saying the words, oddly enough.

"…smaller rooms are fine," Keishi said before giving a stiff nod, and turning to leave.

There was a small silent after the door closed behind the Rain-nin, before Shuutou started to chuckle. Yahiko, on other hand, sighed. "Arashi-san, you don't just bring the facts to the table like that! What were you thinking, saying you'll bring the wall down?"

"With you being all smoke and mirrors, I thought someone ought to be a little honest. Besides, you can't honestly expect me to know how to deal with your courtly-speech. I couldn't understand half the things you were saying," Naruto snorted, and glanced at the mirthful Daimyo. "I take it I didn't ruin the whole thing, though."

"Thankfully no, but I think you can from now on concentrate onto the commoners," Yahiko murmured with exasperation. "Leave Keishi to me."

"Could you really bring the wall down just like that, Kazama-san?" Shuutou asked after managing to quell his stifled laughter.

"Probably not, Shuutou-dono. But I know a gigantic fox who would happily do it for me," Naruto shrugged.

xx

Most likely my favourite chapter so far.

Now an announcement type of thing; due to developments in the Naruto manga, this story is now officially AU, so if some canon plot elements or back stories don't appear correctly, it's because I started writing this like hundred official Naruto chapters ago, back when I was still actually following it.

(Edit; Instructions how to get around the error messages in ffnet and upload new chapters is on my profile page)

My apologies for possible grammar errors and such.


	17. Building on rain

**Building on rain**

The monument's construction started not much later. Mostly it was due to Naruto threatening to bring the wall down the moment it would be completed that ended the discussion there, but Yahiko's more subtle efforts paid them well on another battlefield. Akatsuki was not only made an official organisation and given some important tasks - most of which were things they were already doing like helping with rebuilding and keeping peace - but Hidden Rain's reputation also took a huge dent. Keishi lost his people's approval both due to the wish to reconstruct the wall and the fact that he lost to Yahiko on the political battlefield, and whispers of so called new vote for other leader for Hidden Rain were already spreading.

"I still think we ought to make Yahiko the leader," Naruto murmured. Since he knew that Pain had been the leader of Hidden Rain in the future, it seemed right for him. Of course, it had been Nagato controlling Yahiko's body back then, but the fact remained. Akatsuki _should_ get the control over Hidden Rain.

"We can't _make_ anything. Hidden Rain isn't exactly ours to do as we will," Haruka said. "Though I get you, I really do. He'd make a brilliant leader. Better than any other they've had in Hidden Rain so far."

Yahiko was quick to remind them over and over that it wasn't so easy, but now that Shuutou was firmly on their side, there was a new gleam in his eyes. The Rain Daimyo was gaining more power each day, and his efforts to replenish the economy and Akatsuki's efforts just to make things generally _better_ for the country, their alliance was powerful. The idea of a Daimyo ruling a country was both old and new for Rain - and probably just about every other country as well - as it had been ruled by Hanzo for so long, but as Shuutou made his moves, everyone saw _why_ Daimyos existed and why Shinobi should stick to what they were good at.

Really, what did Shinobi know of things like trade and politics and economy, what had they ever done for them? It was not Shinobi alliances or battles or anything else that kept countries _fed_ after all. And Shuutou was more than prepared to show his people how well they were off if they just let him do his thing.

Eventually, though, things moved out of the capital. While Haruka stayed behind as the Daimyo's bodyguard and liaison from Akatsuki, Naruto and Yahiko returned to hideout to bring the new changes to effect. And going from an underground organisation to fully official one required lot of work.

"First thing will be the start of the construction of our new head quarters," Yahiko said after he had explained the whole ordeal to everyone. "We will be official from now on and need a place where we can be found. The hideouts will be kept in good condition and inhabited, of course, and though the temporary field hospitals we made will be closed for now, we will still maintain their condition should they ever be useful again. From now on, though… securing our organisation's position will be the main issue."

Despite Yahiko's earlier arguments, the official Akatsuki, it turned out, would be pretty much like small Shinobi village. First and foremost they would continue as they had, completing their own goals, which for Akatsuki even in times of peace never changed. Secondly, they'd answer to the Daimyo - though of course not one of them would do as Shuutou said without Yahiko's say so. Beyond that, they would also take missions like normal Shinobi, though with firm parameters that followed the Akatsuki rules.

Officially, though, they were Rain Country's new emergency force. That had been especially hard thing for Keishi to swallow, but Yahiko and Shuutou had been relentless, and they had the people's approval. So now, if there was incident like a battle or something of that sort, Akatsuki would be the one called to deal with it and not Hidden Rain - especially if there were civilians involved. One could even said that Akatsuki was Rain Country's brand new police force. Hidden Rain really didn't like it much, as it had been their "duty" before, even if one they had never actually attended to, but it had no longer much say in the matter.

The building of the headquarters begun soon - and after some bickering which Yahiko won, it was decided that Hanzo's wall's remains would be used in the building. Yahiko however didn't want the whole of the headquarters made from the stuff as he seemed to have deep rooted grudge towards the very idea of the wall, so instead most of the wall's remains were used in things like making some of the foundations, streets and stairs outside the head quarters, rather than in making of the buildings themselves. And there were buildings, in definite plural.

"And here I thought we weren't making a village," Naruto mumbled amusedly when he looked over the plans. It wasn't exactly village sized. But with the apartment buildings, the library, the hospital, the research section, the potential ninja-academy and of course the tower which would be Akatsuki's main building, all wrapped in carefully designed streets which gave more than plenty of room for buildings to be added on later, it fell only a little short of a village. All it really was missing were shops and a ramen stand.

The headquarters would be build smack in middle of the Rain Country so that it would be as within the reach as possible. Yahiko was however going to put Akatsuki offices to the further corners of the country and, of course, to the capital as well. As an organisation, they weren't constricted within single spot, and could spread out like any civilian organisation would.

"I don't think we have the money for work like this," Konan murmured worriedly. "The materials, the workers…"

"Materials we can get cheap, thanks to the recession. If necessary we can hold a fund raising or something, and with so many people in our debt we should be able to collect enough to get good start. And as for workers, all we will need is a few professionals. The rest…" Yahiko trailed and looked up to at Naruto with a sly expression.

"… right," Naruto muttered, suddenly realising that of course there would be reason why Yahiko had made him help construction back in the capital. "I'm starting to think you're some sort of crossbreed between a snake and a fox, Yahiko. And that you have some sort of grudge against me," he sighed, rubbing his hand over his eyes. "Why am I with this group again, _why_?"

Nagato's soft, amused chuckle was answer enough.

**x**

Of course the problems with Keishi and the Hidden Rain weren't over just like that, but Naruto was happy to say he didn't need to bother thinking about it. He was too busy with other things. After Yahiko and Shuutou had spent about a week exchanging letters and haggling about money and finding the right workers, the building of Akatsuki head quarters began - and after that Naruto was probably busier than he had ever been in life. Aside from him there were only three professional builders, one architect and handful volunteers from Akatsuki who would be taking part in the construction, so he would be doing most of the work with his clones.

He tried not to think too deeply into the work and just do it, but digging in the pouring rain wasn't fun - even when they pitched some tents and pavilions around the building sites, the water still got in and Naruto had to always have handful of clones bucketing it away. And end of each day he got to assimilate the experiences of his clones, which meant that each day of labour he experienced some five hundred times. So, it got old the second day and plain agonising the third when he realised that some twelve hours of experience timed five hundred in his head within few seconds caused a head ache, a very big head ache.

He eventually started the habit of running away from the building site towards the end of the day and keeping minimum fifteen miles between him and his clones when they dispelled. It left him weak as he didn't get the chakra of the clones back, but at least that way he didn't need to suffer through the knowledge of same things done over and over again by hundreds of copies of himself - though he did get some of them, so that his clones would know what to do and where to start the following day.

His new bosses didn't seem to notice him having any difficulties and praised him to high heavens. "You wouldn't happen to be looking for another career?" one of the builders asked. "You'd make a fortune in construction with that skill of yours. Oh, what I wouldn't give to be able to create half thousand reliable workers on the spot, who wouldn't even ask for pay later on…"

The only light in Naruto's gloomy, work filled days ended up being Shiryoku who had demanded, as his official student, to come with him to the construction site. Naruto had one of his clones with the girl at all times, though most often he was with her in person, and the experience of teaching her was just about the only memory he looked forward to have. While the clones worked and the builders barked instructions and the foundations of the not-really-a-village-but-almost were completed, he and Shiryoku went through meditation sessions and trained in simple Taijutsu, and eventually upgraded to the use of weapons and target practice.

Being blind, target practice was the hardest thing for her to learn, especially since her ability to sense nature's energy didn't help her much there. Targets they mostly used were most often inanimate objects, after all, and thus melted into the background seamlessly for her. She was still getting better, and when Naruto had his shadow clones serve as targets, she sometimes even managed to hit them.

"Will we move in once the headquarters are finished?" she asked from the sanctuary of their shared tent while Naruto watched group of his clones working on the foundations of the eventual hospital.

"Maybe," Naruto answered, though he actually rather doubted it. "Most of Akatsuki will, though, there's no doubt about that. But I guess I've gotten used to being on the move all the time that sticking to one spot seems boring to me."

"But the war is over, isn't it? You don't need to go out to stop fighting anymore, sensei."

"No, but there are other things for me to do," he answered, folding his arms. The war was over, there was a peace and though Yahiko was determined to take the most difficult way possible to the seat of Hidden Rain's leader, even that goal had been reached. Once the headquarters would be finished, Akatsuki's standing would be secure - and Yahiko had grown so strong and shrewd that for a while now Naruto hadn't had much of a reason to worry about him. Or Nagato and Konan for that matter. The only reason why they weren't any better known for their strength was because they were too humble stand out.

"Besides, I only came here because I wanted to do something good in the war," Naruto said. "And like you said, the war is over. Aside from this goddamned building, there's not much for me to do around here." Though given half a moment, Yahiko could probably conjure him plenty of stuff to do, which didn't appeal to him that much. Fighting and protecting was one thing. Running errands… had never been his thing.

She hesitated before reaching out and taking a hold of his sleeve. "You won't leave me behind, right, Arashi-sensei? You promised to teach me…" she said hesitatingly. "I'm your pupil, right?"

Naruto looked down to her and then smiled. "Right," he said, patting her pale blond hair. "Nothing stops you from coming with me, if I go."

While the construction progressed, he heard rumours about Yahiko going head to head with Keishi over and over again until finally it was made official. The border wall's remains would be used in rebuilding and creation of new hospitals and schools and such - and the parts of the wall which were in too poor state to be used in making of buildings would be used in repairing of streets and such. Some monuments would be perched up, as well as few shrines, but mostly the wall would be used for useful things, just like Yahiko had wanted.

Yahiko, Shuutou and Keishi were becoming slowly but steadily the three leaders of Country of Rain, it seemed, and just about everything was decided in arguments between them. With Yahiko enforcing equality and very ready to beat Keishi back to humility when ever it was necessary, Shuutou had just as much say as Daimyo should, and Hidden Rain lost its overwhelming ability to control the country. Of course, the Daimyo didn't become the single ruler, as there was the nobility, the council and everything else to consider, but he gained more power than modern Daimyos were accustomed to have.

Whether it was Shuutou's power, or Yahiko's new influence or the fact that Akatsuki was on the brink of growing explosively was unclear, but it all seemed to make their neighbouring nations curious. Just as Naruto was starting to figure out the gist of plumbing under the not-so-patient guidance of the professional builders, he heard that couple of Leaf-nin had arrived to Rain - and they wanted to see the construction site.

**x**

"What do they want to see this place for?" Naruto asked with honest confusion leaning in to listen a rather old and rough radio while holding a microphone to his mouth. "This is just a construction site - hell, there aren't even proper lodgings here," he muttered, glancing a little annoyed around the tent he and Shiryoku shared. Thanks to a portable stove it was liveable even in the coldest of nights, but it was nowhere near pleasant. Proof of that was poor Shiryoku who lay on her bed, covered in three blankets. She was going through her second bout of flu thanks to living in a tent during winter.

"Yes, but it's the next best thing to checking us out," Yahiko's voice answered, crackling slightly in the radio's speakers. "We don't really have an office and we don't permit non-Akatsuki members to our hideouts after all - and currently there are only four of our members in the capital. The only polite way of _meeting_ us is to… well, visit the construction site."

Naruto snorted. "Aside from me and Shiryoku, there are only five Akatsuki members here and they're all non-ninja," he answered. "What a lot we are to seek meetings with."

The Akatsuki leader chuckled. "They know that we wouldn't let them to the construction site without proper escort to meet them," he answered. "Nagato and I are coming over just little before they arrive, so you don't have to worry about having to play a proper host. We'll cover that."

"Well, that's nice. Still. What do they want with us?"

"What don't they? Sure, we didn't make that much noise during the war but we became pretty well known thanks to the Prison Scrolls," Yahiko answered. "And as far as I can tell, no one was able to crack those seals, or duplicate them. Then there is you; not many Shinobi went through this country without noticing you - and you talked with Jiraiya-sensei, too, he must've reported about you to the Hokage. And finally, there is what we've been doing lately. We undermined the Hidden Rain, we more or less made Shuutou-dono the leader of this country, and now we're becoming official organisation. There aren't that many Shinobi organisations out of hidden villages after all - Akatsuki might end up being one of the biggest ones, actually…"

"Okay, okay, okay. We're noticeable, I get it," Naruto answered with a sigh. Thankfully though they weren't as noticeable as the darker future Akatsuki had been. And if they one day would be, hopefully they were noticeable in a better way. "Isn't this sort of thing risky, though? For us I mean, letting them in here."

"Well, not really," Yahiko said thoughtfully. "We're not exactly being secretive about what we're doing, so it was more or less inevitable that someone would come to test our barriers. And at this point it is better for us to be completely honest about ourselves, than be secretive and cause suspicion." He was quiet for a moment before asking. "How is the construction coming along anyway?"

"Faster now that the sewers are done," Naruto answered. "The foundations have been more or less laid out too; we're just finishing the pipe work before bringing in the cement and such. Tsukuru-san decided that, since I'm pretty much the majority of our workers, it would be quickest if we build everything simultaneously instead of going from building to building. So it will take a bit longer before any one building is finished, but as whole the headquarters will be finished sooner than originally planned, if that makes sense."

"That sounds brilliant," Yahiko said. "Does he have an estimate on how long it will take?"

"Roughly about ten months, probably a bit more. Once the foundations are done, the rest will be easy up until the finishing, as the walls and stuff are made elsewhere," Naruto shrugged even though his leader couldn't see it. He couldn't wait until they got to that point - because once there would be walls, there would be roof and, finally, no more working in the damn rain! "The finishing touches might take a bit longer, though. Routing out power and stuff, windows, doors… stuff like that. I'd say that it's best to prepare for a year."

"He said three years to me, when we were planning this," Yahiko answered, the transmission breaking a little towards the end.

"He probably didn't know he'd have five hundred me's working fourteen hours per day, every day," Naruto snorted while trying to tune the radio a little so that it wouldn't crackle so much. "I'm inch away from demanding pay from you, you know. For each and every one of my clones. And triple for myself."

"It's for the good of the organisation," Yahiko answered with suspiciously cheery tone that carried over even though the poor radio. Naruto could almost hear his wide grin in his voice too. "Surely you want to do the right thing, don't you? Think of all the orphans that will be living in the headquarters, Arashi, think of the children!"

"I've never liked kids that much, they tend to be whiny brats who are never satisfied with anything," Naruto muttered, throwing a glance at Shiryoku who was coughing in her sleep. "You're coming here tomorrow, right Yahiko?" he asked. "See if you can bring some cold medicine for Shiryoku. She's running a fever again."

"Again? If she's not doing well there, you should send her here, Arashi," Yahiko answered seriously. "Even if she is your student, construction site is no place for a little girl anyway."

"I know, and trust me I've told it to her many times, but she's stubborn and won't have any of it, the brat," Naruto sighed with a slightly sad smile. She reminded of himself, at times. "Just bring something to her, at least something for her cough if nothing else. Oh, and maybe some clothes - actually, tell Konan that Shiryoku is about to grow out of her old clothes and could use some new ones, she'll probably know what to get better than you do."

"I'll tell her - and I'll get the medicine," Yahiko promised. "Is there anything else to report from there? Something I should know and prepare for before the Leaf-nin arrive there?"

"Nothing really. Not much really has happened here," Naruto shrugged. "Though I would suggest the lot of you to get proper waterproof footwear. You won't manage ten steps here in sandals."

**x**

"I can see why you suggested better footwear," Nagato murmured while peering over the muddy construction site from underneath the cover of Naruto's tent flap. "I imagine even chakra walking won't help around here."

"It does help when you get floods and such," Naruto answered, remembering much to his dismay how watery it had been before they had gotten the sewers somewhat functioning. "But chakra walking when there are puddles, pits of mud and every random patch of actual hard ground… it can get a bit messy." Shaking his head he turned to assorting the box of medicine Yahiko and Nagato had brought with them. "Did you guys raid the hideout medicine cupboard to bring all these?" he asked, eying one full bottle of pills for headaches. "I don't need half of these. All I needed was something for her cough and fever."

"Thanks to Shuutou-dono, we've had enough to go around - and in a place like these, I guess it's better to have a good store of medicine - someone else might fall ill or get injured," Nagato shrugged, glancing towards the bed where Shiryoku was sitting, awake but too tired to contribute to the conversation in anyway - too shy to try too. "And Yahiko felt that since it's your student we're talking about, we might as well be well prepared."

"Since it's my student? What does that mean?" Naruto asked after finally finding a water soluble medicine which would help with the fever.

Nagato shrugged and didn't answer. "The black bottle is for the cough," he said instead.

After inspecting the bottle of cough drops, Naruto nodded. "Where did Yahiko go anyway?" he asked while fetching his water bottle and a cup. "To see Tsukuru-san?"

"He had some things he wanted to be added to the plans," Nagato nodded, watching as Naruto mixed the medicine with the water and then moved to help Shiryoku feed it. The girl accepted the medicine without a fuss, though she did make a face before accepting the cough drops - and grimaced afterwards.

"It's gonna help you get better," Naruto said, reaching for a cloth to wipe some cold sweat from the blind girl's forehead before tucking the blankets tighter around her and making sure her feet weren't cold. "Comfy?"

"Too hot," she whispered.

"Better be too hot than too cold," Naruto said firmly. "Try and get some sleep." With a slightly irritated sigh, she did, squirming in her bed to get into a better position before lying down with a sigh. After making sure that she was actually trying to get some sleep, Naruto spread his orange cloak over her blankets before returning to the table to pack up the rest of the medicine.

"She's lucky," Nagato said after the girl had fallen asleep. "Nagato, Konan and I, we didn't meet Jiraiya-sensei until we were almost twelve. How old his Shiryoku anyway?"

"Any age between seven or nine. It's a little hard to tell and she can't remember," Naruto answered and a slight frown. Like many others, Shiryoku had been an orphan for longer than she had been member of Akatsuki - and being blinded had not helped her keeping track of her age. Not to mention about the fact that she hadn't known how to count before Naruto had started teaching her. "And I wouldn't call her lucky," he added. Lucky was family and living happily ever after. Lucky was not being blind and in the care of him of all people.

"As lucky as she can be in these circumstances, anyway," Nagato allowed, glancing outside once more before moving to join Naruto by the table. He hesitated for a moment before frowning. Usually his Rinnegan were hard to read, but the confusion was so strong in them that it was nearly impossible to miss. "Jiraiya-sensei is one of the two Leaf-nin," he said quietly.

Naruto blinked with surprise, for a moment feeling warmth of relief towards the upcoming meeting. He hadn't known what to think of it before, but if it was Jiraiya then there was nothing to be worried about. And yet… Nagato didn't seem to share the sentiment. "Is there something wrong about that?" Naruto asked.

Nagato hesitated before sitting to a rough bench beside Naruto's. "I don't know. It's seems like it's been ages since we saw him the last time - it's been four years…" he trailed away, frowning at his hands. Then he looked up. "You know him too, right, Arashi? Do you think he will be proud to see what we've done here, what we've become? Yahiko, Konan and I, I mean."

Naruto blinked with surprise at the hopeful tone, his eyebrows racing up towards his hairline. Then he frowned slightly at himself. Nagato was usually so quiet that it was easy to forget, but he was probably one of the most sensitive guys Naruto had ever met. And Jiraiya… Jiraiya had taken him and his two friends in when they had been alone and barely surviving. For Nagato - and probably for Konan and Yahiko too, though they might not show it so plainly - Jiraiya was the closest thing to a parent he had.

"If he isn't, then he's either stupid or blinder than Shiryoku could ever hope to be," he said, reaching out to squeeze the other's shoulder compassionately. "Hell, I've only known you for about two years, and _I'm_ proud of you guys, proud of being part of what you created. If he isn't, he deserves kick to the nuts, and then some."

Nagato smiled faintly and bowed his head for a moment before nodding. "Thanks Arashi," he said.

"No problem," Naruto grinned before creating a clone. "Now, let's go and find Yahiko. I can give you two a tour around the site, you can see the full extend of the horror you've had me working in." he said, reaching for his work cloak - which despite being ugly brownish colour was even better than his orange cloak just because it had a hood. As they headed out of the tent, his clone sat down, picking up the Tale of the Gutsy Ninja as he settled to watch over Naruto's sick student.

**x**

By the time the Leaf-nin arrived, Yahiko and Nagato had seen all there was to see about the construction site - which wasn't much - and settled down to a tent next to Naruto's where they mostly went over the plans of the site with the architect, Tsukuru. Naruto had decided to not listen to them, as more plans meant essentially more work for him and the workload still ahead of him made him often seriously consider running away to the uncharted territories to live as a savage. So instead he had gone back to business as usual and continued practicing welding while few dozen of his clones worked with the streets, some handful attempted to unclog one of the sewer entrances, and the rest few hundred worked on whatever other four dozen tasks there were to be done.

He had just somehow mastered the art of the blow torch and wondered if he would soon know more about construction work than he'd ever know about being a ninja, when one of his clones dispersed. Aside from the memories of four hours of trying to get one of the excavators to work after it had stopped, he got the first glimpse of their foreign guests, who had arrived escorted by two Akatsuki members, a member of Shuutou's court and one Rain-nin. Like Nagato had said, Jiraiya was one of the Leaf-nin. The other, however, wasn't Minato as Naruto had suspected.

It was Tsunade.

Naruto lowered his blowtorch while around the construction site all his clones stopped what they were doing in surprise. "Old hag's still with the village, huh?" he murmured. Well, Jiraiya wasn't yet the Toad Hermit so it made sense that she wasn't the Legendary Sucker, but… why was _she_ here? Sending Jiraiya made sense, not just because he had few encounters with Naruto, but because Jiraiya had personally trained the Akatsuki leaders - he already had connections so he was the best man for the job. But Tsunade? Why her? Even as a Hokage she hadn't been _that_ diplomatic.

Well, one way to find out. "Maybe I can get her to take a look at Shiryoku," he muttered. "Oi, old man, I'm taking a break," Naruto said to one of the builders near by and created a clone to replace him in the welding. "Tell him if you need more workers," he added, pointing at the clone, and then turning to head to the tent where Nagato and Yahiko were - though one of the clones had probably already informed them of their visitors.

The two were wrapping up the blueprints and by the sound of it Tsukuru was yelling at group of clones near by. "Show time, huh?" Naruto asked as Nagato packed the blueprints away. "Do we have a battle plan for this little meeting?"

"Let them see what they can, explain some upcoming things to them, speak them nothing of the place's future functions, except in general terms," Yahiko said. He was trying to hide it, but Naruto had known him long enough to know how nervous he really was. With the way he was desperately keeping his hands still so that he wouldn't twiddle them... it was obvious. "Are you coming with us to meet them?" the orange haired leader asked while Naruto undressed his helmet and ran his hand through his hair, trying to make it stop dribbling water to his face.

Naruto hummed. He wanted to see Jiraiya and was curious about what sort of explanation was behind their little check up. And he was interested about the old hag too - though calling her that right now was probably a _very bad idea_... "I'm curious to see why Tsunade-hime is here - and it's not like anyone will miss me, with few hundred of mes around," Naruto answered.

"Tsunade-_hime_?" Nagato asked curiously.

"She's the granddaughter of the first Hokage," Naruto answered. "Not exactly royalty or nobility as the civilian nobles know, but as close as it gets to a princess with shinobi."

"Well, if she's really some sort of nobility, you might clean yourself up a little," Yahiko said with a snort, giving him a look. "When was the last time you shaved?"

Somewhat self consciously Naruto touched his chin. One of the worse things that came with being adult, he mused with a sigh while scratching the irritating fuzz. "Well, you don't pay me to look pretty. Hell, you don't pay me at all," he muttered. Thankfully, he had - mostly due to horrible, horrible boredom, developed a trick against the annoying facial hair. Gathering some wind chakra to his palm, he smoothed it over his chin. "Besides, construction workers aren't meant to look good."

"Depends on who you ask - and are you using wind manipulation to _shave_? What the hell?" Yahiko asked, raising his eyebrow at what he was doing and then snorting. "You're gonna end up cutting yourself."

"Tsk. This is nothing compared to some of my attacks. All I gotta do is layer my skin with chakra and then form a blade of wind chakra to my palm, and I'm a-ok!" Naruto answered with a grin and brushed off the cut of hairs from his cheek - now very smooth cheek. "You're just jealous that I don't have to use a razor."

Yahiko just shook his head while Nagato gave Naruto a thoughtful look as the blonde finished his instant-shave and used another Fuuton jutsu to blow away any evidence his former facial hair. "You have to teach me how to do that," the red head said. "But what the devil drove you to using Ninjutsu for something like this? Something used for fighting and you're using it to beautify yourself."

"I _am_ fighting - and the opponent is a very severe annoyance, make no mistake about that. And this is nothing as chakra induced beautifying procedures go. I once knew a woman who used chakra to, ahem... you know," Naruto made a motion over his chest. "Hundred and six centimetres. My teacher measured."

Yahiko and Nagato both looked at him as if he was mad. "Hundred and six, huh?" Yahiko then asked curiously.

"Yep," Naruto grinned. "She was also over fifty years old and looked like she was only twenty. If even that."

"You've... known some interesting people, huh?" Nagato muttered, looking mildly disturbed.

One could say so, Naruto thought to himself while shrugging his shoulders. And Yahiko and Nagato were just about to meet two of them. Well, re-meet.

The orange haired leader shook his head, and though for a moment he had seemed a little less nervous, the anxiety returned to his features. "Well, you can tell us all about them later," he said, looking out of the tent and the party of visitors just about to enter. "Right now we have company."

**x**

As Jiraiya, Tsunade and the others walked in, led in by one of the Akatsuki members, Naruto belatedly realised that he could've - and should've - just gotten his mask. But by that time it was too late to even begin to wonder where he had seen it the last time - in the construction site it had only gotten into his way so he hadn't worn it for months now. So, after two years of acquaintance - which sadly enough only encompassed two meetings and not much else really, Jiraiya saw his face for the first time.

It was a remarkably unremarkable event, though. Most likely because Jiraiya was more interested in Yahiko and Nagato and was listening to Tsunade who by the sound of it was complaining about the rain. And by the looks of it, Jiraiya didn't even recognise him without the mask on. The fact that Naruto was in his ugly murky brown work clothes and had no signature umbrella anywhere near also made him difficult to identify, probably. He was so known for mask, orange clothes and umbrella that without them he was basically in disguise.

"Nagato, Yahiko," Jiraiya said with tone of wonder as he saw the two. "Well, haven't you two grown?"

Naruto stepped back a bit to watch the reunion. Nagato and Yahiko tried to hide their anxiousness, but weren't too successful. While Tsunade and the other visitors tried to dry themselves off, Jiraiya stepped forward to examine his two former students, nodding to himself as he took in their faces, clothes and gear. He nodded again, seeming pleased. "Now, where is Konan-chan? I want to know how well she blossomed," the white haired sage said, looking around expectantly.

"You haven't changed much, Sensei," Yahiko said with awkward laugh. "Konan is elsewhere, dealing with the matters of the organisation. I'm sorry that you didn't get the chance to meet her again."

"Pity. I was looking forward to seeing her," Jiraiya sighed morosely before glancing at Tsunade and the others. "You know Tsunade-hime already, right?" he then asked, motioning the woman to step closer. "I told you training them was a darn good idea," he then added, directing the words to the kunoichi who rolled her eyes.

"Yes, yes," she said, and gave a smile to the two Akatsuki leaders. "It's a pleasure to meet you again. We've heard lot about what you've been doing here."

"No, the pleasure is ours," Yahiko assured and compliments were away.

Naruto sat down next and watched. It was a very interesting sort of meeting to witness. He had never seen Tsunade dealing with any other sort of people except either debt collectors, subordinates or enemies, so watching her meet a foreign Shinobi like Yahiko and Nagato on somewhat friendly grounds... it was a new experience. And so was finding out that Tsunade shared Yahiko's knack in that civil battle field of politeness. Maybe it was the whole princess thing, maybe she had been raised like that, but she laid the politeness just as thickly as any civilian court member Naruto had witnessed.

Maybe there had been other reason to make her the Fifth Hokage, aside from her strength and medical knowledge, after all.

He had odd idea that it wasn't why the Third had send her, though. There was something off about Jiraiya and Tsunade. Not off like they were fakes or about to betray them and kill them and leave them bleeding in puddles, but off like there was just something wrong. Something about Tsunade. She seemed... shallow somehow.

"What's with the overalls? And brown doesn't suit you at all, by the way," a familiar voice said and looking up Naruto saw that one of the Akatsuki-nin escorting their guests was Haruka, who had been working for the past months in the capital as Shuutou's bodyguard.

"Don't judge me when I'm building your new home," Naruto answered with a faint grin. "Or I just might booby-trap your new apartment. Shouldn't you be in the capital?"

"Shoya replaced me," she answered and sat down beside him. "Besides there's so many of us currently in the capital that Shuutou-dono has his backside covered better than he can imagine. So, how's it been, being a degraded from glory to construction working?" she asked with a grin. "Working in the mud like a normal person. Tsk, tsk."

"Not so bad, actually, but one of these days I am going to assassinate Yahiko and no one can do a thing to stop me," Naruto answered with a snort. "And I will pickpocket his dead body. You know, he's not even paying me salary."

"That's what you get from volunteering," Haruka grinned.

"I didn't. He just decided I did," the Fox Sage sighed and glanced at the member of the Daimyo's court who was hastily going through some papers. Then he glanced at the Rain-nin standing beside the civilian. "What's that about?"

"Politics, politics and politics," Haruka sighed, folding her arms. "Shuutou wants to appear like he is in charge of this operation. And he can't start completely ignoring the Hidden Rain so he killed two birds with one stone and hired a Rain-nin as his man's bodyguard. Of course we gotta keep eye on that guy, he's probably gonna do some sneaking around, but with you, Yahiko, Nagato and two of the Three Legendary Ninja of the Leaf here, doing any sabotage would be a suicide."

Naruto nodded, eying the Rain-nin for a moment before shrugging his shoulders. "Not much to see here, though. Unless Hidden Rain is going to steal our secrets of sewer working," he said with a snort and looked back to the Akatsuki leaders and the Leaf-nin who were done chancing compliments. Jiraiya and Yahiko were now exchanging the latest general gossip about what other countries were doing for after-war-reconstruction. Tsunade, on other hand, was looking at him.

"Yo," Naruto said, not sure what else to say.

"You're the guy who made all the clones out there," she said, stepping a little closer. She looked curious. "What are they, water clones? How did you get the chakra to make so many?"

"I have large chakra reserves," Naruto shrugged. "And no, they're not water clones. Water clones might be good enough for some work, and with this much water around they would be ideal, but they're pretty hard to maintain in large quantities as far as I know."

"As far as you know?" Haruka asked curiously.

"As far as I know," Naruto nodded. "I can't do water clones. Or any other sort of clones except for Kage Bunshin."

"Hmm... That's an art of Hidden Leaf. How do you know it?" Tsunade asked with a mild frown.

Naruto shrugged. "I studied," he answered and waved the matter aside. "But that's not important. What's important is why you are here, Tsunade-hime," he said. "I didn't think they'd sent Kunoichi of your calibre for diplomatic missions," he looked her up and down. Like Jiraiya, who aside from mesh under shirt was wearing civilian clothes, she didn't exactly appear to be Shinobi at that moment. She still wasn't wearing the clothes she preferred in Naruto's time, but the casual-but-nice outfit was certainly no Shinobi-gear. "And this isn't exactly a holiday resort," Naruto added.

"You know me?" Tsunade asked, lifting a single brow at him.

"Oh come on. Like anyone who had anything do with the war didn't hear about you and what you did," Naruto answered with a faint grin. Hot shot medic-nin who fought all Sand poisons. Who else could it be? "Not to mention the whole Three Legendary Ninja business."

For a moment Tsunade didn't seem certain about whether o be flattered or insulted. She decided on latter and frowned. "And who are you then?"

Naruto hesitated and then shrugged casually. "The Fox Sage."

"Yeah, and I'm the Kage of Hidden Leaf," she snorted.

"One day maybe," Naruto nodded pleasantly and glanced at Jiraiya who was now looking at him with a mild frown. He gave the man a wave. "Hello, Jiraiya-san."

The white haired sage raised his eyebrows. "That's you, Arashi-san?" he asked with surprise and looked him up and down before eying his face thoughtfully. "First time seeing you without a mask. That's what you really look like, huh?" he murmured, narrowing his eyes for a moment before hiding the expression behind a grin. "What's with the get up? The weather's finally worn you down?"

"Arashi works in the construction," Nagato explained while Yahiko moved aside to greet the member of Shuutou's court properly and receive the Daimyo's latest missive. The red head shrugged. "His clones are behind most of what's been build so far, and it will be mostly thanks to him we can ever finish this place at all."

"Yeah, I'm my own union of construction workers. Arashi Clones United," Naruto nodded. "We're currently lobbying for proper wages and health benefits."

"You go through occupations like socks, huh?" Jiraiya muttered with a faint smile. "First circus freak, then bodyguard for a village and now construction worker? Still going for the Carnival Mystic spot?"

Naruto grinned. "Still, though I've been giving a thought of becoming a wandering prophet. What do you think? I could go around preaching people about upcoming messiah. Or maybe a world's end. Whichever comes first."

Jiraiya's answering grin was more than a little strained.

xx

Merry x-mas :D


	18. Secrets

**Secrets**

Yahiko, Nagato and Naruto showed their visitors around the site, but the tour was short and unpleasantly muddy and wet. Very quickly afterwards, they withdrew back to the tent where Naruto started a fire in the stove to get some heat. The Akatsuki leaders and their guests sat down to talk, and while they went over what Akatsuki had done and what they were planning to do, Naruto made them some tea.

"Of course, Akatsuki policies stay the same even during times of peace, that isn't going to change even when the construction is finished," Yahiko explained. "Our goal is the same, to stop fighting and to work out peaceful solutions to disputes. Thanks to Shuutou-dono's backing we will have better luck at that than we did during the war, and we will have to resort to unpleasant methods a lot less. Hopefully."

"But you're still going to use the Prison Scrolls?" Tsunade asked while the Rain-nin, who wasn't even trying to hide the fact that he was spying the conversation, leaned forward.

"If necessary, yes. Sometimes disputes need to be ended a bit more thoroughly than just by sending the arguing parties to their separate ways. The Scrolls are preferable to inflicting physical harm or causing loss of life," Yahiko said. "And before you ask, no, we're not going to release the method of making Prison Scrolls. Several countries have asked that, and we're not going to comply."

"The Scrolls were pretty well made considering that no one has managed to reverse-engineer them," Jiraiya murmured, looking at Naruto who after serving everyone tea, sat down beside him. "You're not willing to even give a hint about the sealing process? Anything? Even tiny crumb?

"The seals can't be reverse-engineered because the scrolls are triple condescended," Naruto answered while warming his fingers with the tea cup. "And there is an array of extra seals in each scrolls which are unique to the Prison Scroll sealing method - you won't be seeing those seals anywhere elsewhere and because they're triple condescended, you can't see them in the scrolls themselves either. And without knowing those seals, reverse-engineering the sealing method is impossible. All you could hope to do is to draw upon the fact that it can be done, then start from scratch and create your own method of Prison sealing." He grinned.

"And if we try to unfold the triple condescension to study the seal structure, it will ruin the scroll and kill the prisoner, huh?" Jiraiya murmured. "That's going the long way, though, creating array of seals just for one sealing method."

"What can I say, I like to take the hard way," Naruto shrugged. Actually, the unique seals weren't really that unique in Oinarioka, but as Naruto was the only fox summoner around, no one could exactly dispute the fact.

"Give it a while and they will announce your little Prison Scrolls as forbidden art," Jiraiya warned.

"If they will, I will just make another scroll which does pretty much the same thing differently. How about seals that turn person temporarily into stone?" Naruto asked, raising his eyebrows. "Would be more troublesome to get your people back after they've been sealed. Or I could go about the very nasty way and tampering with dimensions. Maybe a little prison dimension of my own." If Madara had been able to do it, Kuda would know how to do it too. If not him, then Inari. "With seals, sky is the limit and I have very good imagination."

Jiraiya sighed. "You make it sound so easy. Making seals like that takes time."

"I can live each day five hundred times, Jiraiya-san," Naruto reminded. "Through my Shadow-Clones, you know. They're not only handy for building and digging and such."

"Or shadowing people," Jiraiya rolled his eyes.

"Or that," Naruto grinned. "You have to say though, I'm a fairly pleasant stalker."

"Arashi, if you could antagonise Jiraiya-sensei a little later please? We were in middle of discussion," the Akatsuki leader interrupted them with a faintly annoyed smile.

Naruto pouted but fell silent, gaining a smirk from Jiraiya. Yahiko rolled his eyes at them and turned to Tsunade. "The scrolls will of course be used as the last resort," he said. "And hopefully one day people will get the message and rather submit to discussions so that we don't need to employ the scrolls again."

"That's pretty idealistic goal, but I can see your point," Tsunade nodded. "But working as peace makers wasn't all you did during the war, right?"

"No, of course not. We also helped with evacuations and found people places to stay when their homes were lost. We set up few field hospitals to help civilians and shinobi both - even those from foreign nations," Yahiko nodded and motioned at Naruto. "What Arashi did during the war was also major part of our operations, though most of us weren't as flashy or noticeable as he was. Preservation of lives was always the goal of all our operations."

"And now, during peace?" Tsunade asked curiously.

"We are continuing on the same goal, though naturally in different means. The building of the headquarters is in a way only a side project for us. The major issues lie in relocation of people who lost their homes during the war, rebuilding what was ruined and reinstating proper state of general well being. Shuutou-dono is naturally solving most of it with the civilian court, re-establishing the old trade routes and such, we're mostly just patching up what he can't cover. Generally it's about supplying work force and so forth. So far we've managed to relocate up to hundred families."

"What about health care and such?" the Slug Princess enquired.

"We've helped rebuilding of that sector too, and we've supplied civilian hospitals with some of our medic-nin, but in the end we don't have much to contribute. It's more of Shuutou-dono's and Hidden Rain's field really," Yahiko shook his head. "Shuutou-dono and I have been, however, contemplating on the fields that Akatsuki's Shinobi Academy will teach and so far we've decided that Ijutsu and general medical techniques will be part of each student's curriculum. It won't be perfectly specialised tutelage, of course, for a full mastery of the field the students will have to continue learning under a master or in Hidden Rain, but it's a start..."

"He came out pretty good," Jiraiya murmured to Naruto. "I always knew that boy had a good head on him."

"You should've seen him in capital just before Akatsuki was made official. He partially whipped the Daimyo to get the man working properly," Naruto muttered back with a faint grin. "The speeches he gave back then were just epic."

"I can imagine," Jiraiya nodded. "Akatsuki's Shinobi Academy, though?"

"We have to teach our members too," Naruto answered. "Most of are barely trained, or not trained at all. And since Akatsuki is getting more members each week and will probably continue getting them in the future, they decided that we might as well teach them."

"But a _Shinobi_ Academy... I thought you were all peaceful and such."

"We are. I guess the Academy will specialise in defence of one's self, and others - and using ninja arts in every day life. Like construction," Naruto murmured.

"You'd be the one teaching that course, huh?"

"Are you two quite done?" Tsunade sent a glare at them while Naruto was elbowing Jiraiya in retaliation.

"Yes ma'am," they answered almost in unison and barely managed to withhold their grins.

"Good. Now shut up," she said, and turned to Yahiko and Nagato again. "And this school of yours, it will only teach Akatsuki members?"

"Oh, not only. The academy will be relatively small at first, of course, and probably will only teach the organisation members, but the idea is that it will work also as a base school for future Hidden Rain Shinobi. There is also a chance that civilian subjects will be taught as well, and it's more than likely that the school will at least teach things like reading and writing. Lot of the orphans of Akatsuki can't do either," Yahiko shrugged. "So far it's all in the air and we're still adjusting the plans, naturally, but the idea is help those in need of help, so... we're not ruling out anything just yet. Except the tutelage of lethal methods, of course."

"Hm..." Tsunade nodded. "I need to hear more, but so far it sounds pretty good. You have a lot of work ahead of you, though."

"We also have lot of people eager to work," Yahiko answered with a smile. "So that's not as much of a problem as financing is."

"Money is always an issue," Jiraiya murmured. "Root of all evil."

"Especially when you don't have any," Naruto agreed.

"Okay, that's it, if you can't be serious, just get out," Tsunade snapped at them.

Naruto raised his eyebrows and then stood up. "Happily," he grinned and saluted somewhat amused and slightly annoyed Yahiko. "Call me if you need me."

"Yes, yes, just go," the orange haired leader said, making a shooing motion with his hand. Naruto grinned again and after Jiraiya made some not very sincere apologies, the toad summoner followed him.

"So, something you wanted to talk to me about?" Naruto asked once they were out of the tent.

Jiraiya nodded. "Yeah. Is there anyplace private here?"

"Right this way."

**x**

Naruto led the white haired sage to one of the simple pavilions pitched almost middle of the construction site, where he had been once working with the sewer. Though the pavilion had been left standing there, the work itself was done for now and no one was around, or at least not close enough to over hear over the pouring rain and the roar of the construction machines. It was as close to privacy one could get in the area.

"What a pleasant place to stay," Jiraiya murmured while sitting down to one of the rough benches there. "You lead some interesting lifestyles, Arashi-san."

"I know," Naruto murmured with a snort and peered in to the muddy construction site around them. "I'm starting to think of running away from here the moment this place is ready. To some place sunny and warm where it never rains."

Jiraiya chuckled. "That's exactly how I felt after three solid years in here. And of course it was raining in Hidden Leaf the day I returned there," he snorted, shaking his head. He was silent for a moment before turning to look at the younger shinobi. "You don't seem too worried about showing your face this time," he said. "Is that your real face, or is it an illusion?"

Naruto brushed his hand over his chin. "It's real," he said, and shrugged his shoulders. "I suppose there is no point in trying to conceal it anymore - not that there was really one to begin with, to tell you the truth. When we met the last time, it was more of a habit than a necessity, really. Besides, people tend to recognise me better when I have the mask on, so being without it gives me a weird sort of anonymity."

"Wear the mask long enough and the mask becomes you?" Jiraiya asked.

"A good advice to anyone working under cover," Naruto agreed and shifted slightly as the elder man kept staring at me. "What?"

"You look a little like Minato," the other Sage answered. "The shape of the eyes are a bit different and then there are those marks, but... if you just grew a little longer hair on the sides, you'd look like his older brother."

Naruto grinned crookedly. "Maybe we're related," he shrugged. "How is Minato doing anyway?"

"Training so that he can become Jounin," Jiraiya answered. "And Jojoni and Chougou are temporarily with another teacher, training for their Chuunin exam..." he trailed away before shrugging his backpack off his shoulders and lowered it to the ground. Curious Naruto watched as the man rummaged through the pack. "Speaking of Minato, I got something for you. It was Minato's idea actually - a bit stupid if you ask me, but I suppose it works as a sort of joke... anyway, here."

Naruto stared down to the _gift_ he had received, his hands automatically closing over it protectively. Then he looked up, feeling like someone had sucked all brain cells out of his head. "Huh?"

"Apology for the wall. People died when it fell, though I promised to try avoid it. Minato wanted me to get you something more expensive for some reason, but I figured this'd be enough," Jiraiya answered with an awkward shrug of his shoulders. "If you don't want it, give it here. I am pretty hungry after all the running -"

"No way, you gave it to me, it's mine," Naruto said, backing away a little and clutching onto the box of three cups of instant ramen protectively. "Thanks," he said after he was sure Jiraiya wasn't going to take the box away. "You have no idea how I've missed food other than the tasteless rations we get here. Why ramen though? Not that I mind, hell no, I've missed ramen like lost limb I never had. Haven't had a bowl of cup in ages. It's just not the sort of thing you give to someone. Usually."

"You said you'd never say no to it," Jiraiya answered with a faint smile.

"I never would," Naruto agreed, glancing down to the box and smiling. He couldn't wait to have a cup. It had been way too long. "So," he said while sitting down, the box securely in his arms. "Whaddya doing here, really?"

"Shocking as it might seem, we are actually doing what we say we are," Jiraiya laughed. "The Hokage was pretty impressed when I told him about Akatsuki. He's a bit of an idealist so stuff like this appeals to him. But then, stuff like this ought to appeal to just about anyone after the war we had. Anyway, he wants to see if you can actually pull it off - and if you can, will it be something worthy of copying."

"Copying? Really?" Naruto asked.

"He's not that happy with the system we have right now. Graduating kids under the age of ten might be necessary during war when there is always shortage of soldiers, but now, during the time of peace... seems a bit messed up. And even during the war, is it really right?" the white haired Sage sighed. "Because when you get down to it, war or no war, in the end all we're doing is teaching little kids how to kill and get killed..." he trailed away and shrugged his shoulders. "Old man Sarutobi has kids himself, so I suppose it's a matter close to heart."

"So he wants to change the system?" Naruto asked. Kids under ten? Wasn't the standard graduation age twelve? Except with geniuses like Kakashi and Itachi who learned Ninjutsu before they learned how to walk…

"The Akatsuki... system, if you can call it that yet, is the only one that does things differently. Well, the Hidden Mist has a different system too, but theirs isn't exactly better, what with half of the kids dying in order for the other half to graduate," Jiraiya grimaced. "Anyway, you're trying something _new_. Old man wants to see if you can make your system work and if it does..."

Naruto nodded in realisation. Pretty much all ninja systems were either similar to Leaf's, or they were whole lot worse. Akatsuki wasn't exactly a village - yet - but they were still doing something different from the norm. Hopefully something better too. "If you start to mimic us, people will start calling you weak sentimentalists too," he grinned.

"I'd rather a weak sentimentalist than strong mass-murderer, really," Jiraiya sighed.

Naruto smiled sadly at that and nodded in agreement. "So, you're here to see if we're getting anywhere," he murmured. "I can understand why they'd sent you here as you have connections and so on. But why send someone like Tsunade-hime? This isn't the sort of thing you usually sent your best medic, and as far as I can tell she isn't actually an expert of the education system. Not to mention about the whole being the first Hokage's granddaughter thing..."

"You know about that, huh?" Jiraiya murmured and shook his head. "You're right, though. She wasn't sent here because of her skills. Partially it was because it was either her or my other team mate, Orochimaru and I got a feeling that Orochimaru might not be the most diplomatic guy to send on a mission like this," he snorted but the amusement was short lived. "Partially it's because what happened to her during the war."

"Hm?" Naruto raised his eyebrows, a little worried now.

"She... lost two people very close to her, and it left... well, she didn't take it that well, not that anyone would," the other sage answered. "First her brother, then her lover... now she's... well. Currently she's not fit for any sort of work she usually does. Too many traumas."

"Oh," the Fox Sage murmured. The hemophobia, right. He had completely forgotten about that. "So she's here because... you can't send her anywhere else?"

"No, there's plenty of stuff she could've done. Hell, the Hunter-nin training facilities were screaming to have her teach there, for one. It's just that we don't want her to adjust not being able to work like she used to; we want her to recover," Jiraiya shook his head. "We thought that if we'd show her a system less likely to get everyone around it butchered, she might... overcome her current difficulties. Maybe even recover some of her previous vigour. She used to be the strongest supporter of our medic-nin faction, you know - wanted a medic-nin into every Shinobi team at one point. Not so much anymore."

Naruto frowned. "I don't know if seeing this," he motioned to the more or less messy are around them, "will be able to help her. This is just a building site after all."

"Yes. But maybe if Yahiko would let us have a closer look at Akatsuki and how it operates, you know, it's values …" Jiraiya sighed. "Though I suppose that's a bit too much to wish for."

The Fox Sage didn't answer for a moment, looking out to the rain instead and thinking. With Shinobi there were motives behind motives most of the time. It could be that what Jiraiya had told him was really it - using ambassadorial mission as excuse to try and heal emotionally scarred Kunoichi. However, that could be just a way to get into the inner workings of Akatsuki - and maybe steal the secrets of things like the Prison Scroll. Naruto had learned his lesson with Sai, and knew that even people against such things could in the end be traitors. He wanted to trust Jiraiya, he really did… but in the end Jiraiya was what he was. A Shinobi serving a different country.

"Well, I'm not going to try convincing Yahiko-san for you," he finally said. "Not that I think that getting a closer look at Akatsuki would help her or you either. For one I'm not sure what you're trying to see anyway - everything we do is pretty much out in the open, there's nothing more to see. And the organisation is scattered all over the place, there is no one concentration where it all is, not anymore."

"But seeing is only one thing. Living is different," Jiraiya answered.

Naruto paused and turned to look at the man in sudden realisation. "Exactly how long are you going to stay here?" he asked slowly, now a little worried.

"Few weeks, longer if there is more to see about your organisation and if I find here what Tsunade-hime needs…" Jiraiya answered and gave him a close look. Then he frowned. "You think we're trying to worm into your organisation and steal some secrets, huh? You're not very trusting, huh?"

Naruto smiled mirthlessly, and thought of Sasuke and what it felt like to get a Chidori through his chest. He didn't want the same to happen to Akatsuki. "I've been stabbed in the back often enough to not show it to anyone anymore," he answered. "Akatsuki as it is now is precious. In more ways than you can imagine. I won't let it be ruined. Not even by you."

"I'm not going to betray them - they're my _students_," Jiraiya answered with a frown. Then he narrowed his eyes. "And one of them is the child of my prophesy."

Naruto raised his eyebrows with surprise. What a thing to say out loud and so suddenly.

The white haired sage smiled grimly. "I told you about it, didn't I? In the carnival. I can't completely remember it, but I have vague memory of you asking about where he was, that student of mine… That's what your wandering prophet thing was about, wasn't it?"

"It was meant to be a joke," Naruto sighed, scratching his slightly wet hair and pulling his hand back in dismay. He had mud in his scalp. "Lovely," he murmured and pried the dirt from under his finger nails. "That's part of the reason why I came here too, you know. That prophesy," he then admitted. Main reason, actually, in so many ways.

"You believe in it too? In a prophesy you heard from a drunkard?" Jiraiya asked a little disbelievingly.

Naruto shrugged. "You're not the only person I heard it from, though I didn't hear the full thing before you babbled it to me," he answered and sighed. The conversation had gotten messy and deep way too quickly. He was getting a headache. "You know, the first time I met Yahiko and Nagato, Hanzo had Konan at knife point and was telling Nagato to kill Yahiko and that if he didn't, Konan would die. By stroke of luck I managed to interfere, but imagine if I hadn't been there… imagine someone with Nagato's power, his sensitivity, with a trauma of killing one of his two best friends…"

The white haired sage eyed him a little confusedly and then raised his eyebrows. "You're scared Nagato goes bad," he then said slowly, sounding a little surprised

"I'm terrified of the idea of him going bad. He has the _Rinnegan, _the most powerful bloodline limit ever known_,_" Naruto shorted and shook his head. "My best friend had a pretty strong bloodline limit too…" he muttered, but he wasn't able to continue. Sasuke and all things involved, none of it could make it past his lips, the pain was too great. "He went bad," he said instead. "Really, really bad."

"Is that why your village doesn't exist anymore?" Jiraiya asked.

"Oh, no," Naruto snorted almost violently and grinned up to the elder Shinobi widely. "That was a whole another matter. The thing is, people go _wrong_ very easily. I've seen it so many times, I can't…" he hesitated, not sure how to put it. He shook his head instead. "If I can stop it, there will never be a reason for that with Nagato," he said. "Or Yahiko for that matter."

"What about Konan?"

"She's the strongest of them all when it comes to that," Naruto sighed. He felt oddly deflated, having gotten the lot of it out. He sighed heavily, bowing his head. "I feel like an idiot, telling you all this."

Jiraiya eyed him for a moment, and then started laughing. "You carnival mystics need a mystic things to be paranoid about, huh?" he said, compassionately patting Naruto to the back. "You're a good guy, Arashi-san. Weird as hell, but good." He chuckled. "But by the sound of it, you seriously need someone to trust. You sound like you're on the brink of it yourself."

"Yeah, half of the time it feels like that too," Naruto murmured and smiled sadly. "Thanks, Jiraiya-san," he then added. "It's… good to get it out, for once." Even if it wasn't even _half_ of the many issues he had, it was relieving to not bottle _something_ inside him anymore. It might've made him seem like a lunatic, but since it was Jiraiya who witnessed him raving… it was alright.

"It's okay. One could even say that we're even now." Jiraiya patted his back again and if his hand lingered, neither said anything about it.

**x**

"I really mean it, though," Jiraiya said a little later while filling his delicate kiseru pipe with tobacco. "I really am here because Sarutobi-sensei wants to know how far you can take your policies and whether or not something here might help Tsunade recover. Sure, there are some in Leaf who would love to get their hands on whatever secrets Akatsuki might have, like the Prison Scroll sealing technique and whatever else they imagine you possess… but I don't really care about them that much. And the Hokage doesn't want to mess up a good thing."

Naruto hummed in answer but didn't say anything to that. He wished he could've believed the man. But he couldn't. He couldn't believe in the Third Hokage, to be exact. The old man had been kind to him, yes, and he had lead Leaf for a very long time with care and devotion. But he had also been one of the people behind the Uchiha massacre. Sure, Madara had been the one to sic the Kyuubi at Leaf, but he hadn't been the one to make the Hokage and his advisors blame the Uchiha over it. The Uchiha had planned a revolt, of course, but who knew… the loss of life might've been lesser if they had actually gotten their way. How many people had Itachi been ordered to butcher anyway, how large had the Uchiha clan been?

"I trust you," he said finally. "But I don't trust the _people_ who issue your orders." Behind the orders of a Shinobi, there was more people than just the Kage, too.

"There's that," Jiraiya agreed and using a match lit his tobacco. He inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, looking beyond the edge of the flimsy pavilion and to the rain. "It must be really _something_ to have a superior who you can trust to always have the good of everyone in his mind. Yahiko is one in a million."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. "That's why I'm still here. That's why Akatsuki is growing bigger, even though there is peace."

"I'd be envious of you if I didn't know with painful detail what a brat he used to be," Jiraiya muttered with a snort. "Though even while he was a brat, he was pretty much like he seems to be now. Always looking after other people."

The Fox Sage nodded, stretching his arms. He had used to be like that. Maybe, in a way he still was. But Yahiko was better because he had the right skills and the right instincts. In comparison, Naruto's quest to protect his precious people had been a mess. "I guess if you present your case to Yahiko-san, he will see it from your point of view. He's less paranoid than I am, and more open," Naruto said. And Yahiko knew what to keep open and what to keep secret so that, in the case the spectators turned out to be spies, nothing was loss. "And he has that helping people thing going on, so I imagine he'd be willing to try and help Tsunade-hime with… whatever she needs help with."

"Yeah, I figured as much. You're not happy about it, though," Jiraiya said.

"It's not my thing to be happy or sad about. I'm just worried," Naruto muttered. "But I guess Yahiko is wise enough to not let his guard down too much. Not after Hanzo and Danzo."

"… Danzo?" Jiraiya asked, blinking.

"Yeah. That time when Hanzo was trying to make Nagato kill Yahiko, Danzo was there with some twenty Leaf Shinobi - that's how I got into the country, I snuck in with them," Naruto shrugged and glanced at him. He raised his eyebrows. "You didn't know, huh?"

"You sure it was Danzo? Danzo of Hidden Leaf?"

"Well, they were wearing Leaf headbands. And Hanzo called him Danzo," Naruto back-pedalled, realising that he wasn't supposed to know who Danzo was. "It was this dark haired guy with bandages all over his face. The two of them came after Akatsuki again a little after I joined - worked pretty seamlessly together, too. We had to evacuate because of them."

Jiraiya looked at him sideways and then slowly exhaled a thin strand of smoke. "Interesting. You wouldn't mind telling me a bit more? And if I told the Hokage about it?"

Naruto shrugged, seeing no harm in it as Danzo had little do with the Akatsuki as whole, and explained what had happened. "You ought to ask Yahiko and the others the rest of the story, as I'm not sure how they ended up in there or why Hanzo knew exactly where to find them. I wasn't there for that part," he said.

Jiraiya nodded thoughtfully. "Any other run-ins you've had with Leaf Shinobi?" he asked. "Because officially we had no alliances in the war in the last five years or so, not after we retreated from Rain."

Naruto shook his head. "Not really, aside from the battles and such. If something like that happened, I didn't notice it," he answered, leaning back a little and thinking about all the things he had seen during the war. His slate in it had been rather cleanly cut so he didn't know much about the hidden politics and possible secret alliances that had happened behind the screens. He had been a soldier and soldiers usually only saw their opponents.

"Well, if Danzo was there, I guess I have to investigate the matter a little," Jiraiya murmured. "For the good of the village and such."

"If anyone knows, it's Yahiko. He has eyes in the back of his head and two hundred miles away, especially now. If a single rock has been turned over, he'll know," Naruto snorted. Then he looked up as he heard _pitter-patter_ of steps in water. "We have company," he said, lifting his head a little.

It was Nagato. "Jiraiya-sensei? Arashi?" he asked as he stepped into the shelter of the pavilion. "You two certainly found the most inconspicuous place to hide."

"Hiding plain in sight is the perfect place to hide," Naruto said, rocking back and forth once before standing up fluidly. Nagato's appearance was his cue to leave. There were other people who longed to have a talk with their teacher after all. Nagato's and Jiraiya's bond was closer than Naruto's and Jiraiya's was - or, he thought with aching chest, probably would ever be. He turned to the white haired sage and smiled to hide the emotions churning away inside him. "How long are you going to stay around the site?" he asked, motioning around them.

"I think over the night if that's possible. Why?" Jiraiya raised his eyebrows.

"Just curious," Naruto answered and lifted the ramen packet. "Now I am gonna go and eat real _food_ after gods only know how long. I'll catch up with you later, Jiraiya-san."

Jiraiya nodded, and with a wave Naruto walked away and into the rain.

**x**

There was something oddly ceremonious in the way one prepared a cup of instant ramen, Naruto found. The heating of the water, which wasn't exactly abundant on the site. The wait as it boiled and then cooled down just a little - he knew that water which was bubbling gave ramen an oddly slurry quality, so usually he waited five or ten minutes after boiling the water. Then, finally, three to six minute wait as the ramen soaked the hot water in. Okay, maybe it wasn't ceremonious, but it was somewhat ritualistic.

Maybe it was the long time it had been since he had gotten ramen, or the fact that he was so darned cold, or the fact that the food they had in the building site was painfully bland - or that the ramen came from _Jiraiya_ - but it was the best cup of ramen he had ever had. Just right temperature, just right blend of spices, just enough noodles and that make-believe vegetable and meat stuff which usually seemed rather like poorly made copies of the real stuff.

But then, many things were.

Naruto sighed, thinking back to the conversation with Jiraiya. He had said too much, but thankfully Jiraiya didn't know him or the situation well enough to make much sense of it. To him it just seemed Naruto was paranoid after too many bad experiences - and though that _was_ partially it, he would never know the worse bad experience was a future he had prevented. He snorted softly at that thought. _He_ had prevented? All he had done was to take on event and change it and everything had started changing in result.

"Dominoes," he murmured and took another mouthful of ramen.

"Sensei?" Shiryoku asked, probably alerted from her almost-sleeping state by the word. "Sensei, is that you?"

"Yeah. How are you feeling, kiddo?" Naruto asked while stirring the ramen. There was almost none of it left. Where had the rest of it gone so quickly, hadn't he just started eating? Someone was stealing his ramen right under his nose.

"Better," she answered, shifting in the bed a little and sitting up with a yawn. "All this sleeping and lying down is making my head hurt, though," she admitted softly. "Sensei… do you think I could meditate a little?"

"If you can manage it, being sick," Naruto answered. He had found that trying to meditate even with just a headache was hard - but that might've been just him. Even these days meditation was more of a technique for him than a natural habit it should've been, considering his status as a Sage. "You know what; I think I join you. It's been a while since I've meditated. Can't let myself get rusty."

She giggled a little as Naruto noisily finished his cup - and hurriedly hid the rest away to make sure that he and he alone would get to eat them. Then he approached Shiryoku's bed where she was attempting to free herself from underneath all the blankets. "When I say meditate, I don't mean you to come completely out from underneath the covers, kiddo," he chuckled and wrapped a blanket around her shoulders as she sat into comfortable lotus position. "Being warm shouldn't prevent you from meditating - not any more than being sick can."

"Alright. I just feel a little suffocated," she answered wiggling her shoulders and arranging the blanket into more comfortable position while Naruto kicked off his boots and sat to his own bed which was near to hers. She coughed softly and added. "And I am a bit hot."

"Ignore it," he simply said, crossing his ankles in his lap and taking a deep breath. "Now, shush it."

She harrumphed in answer, but quieted down. Naruto glanced at her before smiling and closing his eyes. He doubted he'd be able to meditate - with Tsunade and Jiraiya in the camp he was feeling a bit too giddy to relax enough for meditation. But the feel of Shiryoku doing it was enough to make him unwind - when she was meditating it turned the air around her almost serene, and it was, oddly enough, always easier to meditate in company.

Unless there was a battle to be fought, of course. It was weird, but Naruto always meditated best when there was a battle. Probably because the need for nature's energy and his Sage Form was usually dire - and dire circumstances always made him work better.

He let the thought fade from his mind along with everyone else, and releasing the breath he had been holding, he fell into the meditation. Like usually, the space around him opened to the senses his body normally didn't possess, and he could feel the raindrops on the puddles as clearly as if they had fallen to his skin. Yahiko, Tsunade and the others were still talking in the other tent, leaning over table - over maps, or some sort of plans. The few other construction workers were holding a break while Naruto's own clones still toiled at whatever needed to be done, not exactly tireless but adjusted to working and to the idea that taking a break would do little for them.

When Naruto's senses brushed the pavilion where Jiraiya and Nagato were talking, he shied away and turned his mind quickly elsewhere. He didn't want to trigger the painful jealousy now, when it would break his meditation. It would've been better if he hadn't been jealous at all, but he wasn't a saint and he wasn't even a proper Sage, come to that. He couldn't - and wouldn't - suppress his feelings like that, even when they hurt.

Beside him, Shiryoku was spreading her senses as well, except in different manner. Unlike Naruto, who as master of Senjutsu could manipulate his senses to go wherever he wanted them to, hers spread steadily to all sides. It reminded Naruto a little of the bubble of vision given by Byakugan - equal at almost all directions. For a person who only knew how to sense nature's energies, and not use them, Shiryoku was getting good. At this point it wouldn't have surprised him much if she would one day master the sense while moving to the point where she'd have better short-range vision than anyone without superior eye based bloodline limit.

It was still pretty odd to have a student, Naruto thought to himself. He had always _been_ the student, so to be the teacher… It had been fun in the beginning, and pretty easy-going, teaching the orphans of Akatsuki what little he knew of the basics, but with Shiryoku it was different. She wasn't just some kid he'd teach how to do this trick or that trick and then leave behind - she wasn't Konohamaru. If anything, she was Shizune to his Tsunade.

And to be honest, he wasn't sure if he was a good choice for her teacher. Sure, he was and would do anything and everything he could for her, to teach her everything he though she'd needed to know… but he was barely decent Shinobi himself. Sure, he was strong, he had Senjutsu and he had summoning, but as far Shinobi went, he was _sloppy_. His taijutsu was a mess aside from Frog Katas but he only knew little of those. The only Ninjutsu he knew were either arts she couldn't use or… couldn't use. She had meagre chakra reserves and would never been able to learn any of Naruto's signature attacks - not even Rasengan, not that he would've taught it even if she could've learned it. Her affinity was with water, too, so he couldn't even teach her any of his Fuuton jutsu.

He opened his eyes as the thoughts interrupted his meditation. When he thought of it, there was really not much he could teach Shiryoku. Senjutsu was actually the only thing he alone could teach - she could learn everything else from anyone else. Reading, writing, she'd never know how to do those, nor sealing. He could teach her how to count, but anyone could do that. It would've been better if she would learn Taijutsu from someone else and in the end if she would ever want to use Ninjutsu, she would _have to_ learn it form someone else. Even Naruto's gently budding secondary element wouldn't help her - fire was little use to a water adept.

He turned to look at the pale haired blind girl as she meditated and sighed, wondering if every teacher went through the moment of inevitable incompetence he did. When he thought of it, none of his teachers had managed to actually _teach him_. Iruka had tried and failed even to make him understand the basics. Kakashi had only taught him two tricks, really, how to chakra walk and how to use his clones properly, he had had to figure everything else out for himself. Yamato… hadn't really taught him anything, really, except maybe how to really deal with life of Shinobi, and the many betrayals and disappointed that it entailed. Fukasaku had taught him Senjutsu and Frog Katas, and had been among his best teachers, but even he had only taught him two tricks.

Only Jiraiya had managed to teach him more, but in the end… even Jiraiya hadn't taught him that much. He had corrected the glaring flaws of his Taijutsu, taught him how to apply the clones a little better in battle, they had created the Oodama Rasengan more or less together… When he was truthful about it, most of Jiraiya's teachings had been about life, not about fighting. Naruto appreciated the lessons, he really did, but they didn't much help him now.

It made him wonder, though, why all his teachers had been so inefficient in teaching him. Had he been really such a difficult student? Though, considering Jiraiya's other students… Nagato, Yahiko and Konan were all good, but they were very individualistic. Not one of them mastered a skill the other did. And looking at Konan's paper jutsu… that wasn't something Jiraiya could teach, not really. So maybe that was it, at least from Jiraiya's part. He didn't teach his students what he knew, but taught them to use what _they_ knew a little better. That was what he had done with Naruto too. Actually, that was what Kakashi had done, as well, though he had been a little late in the game with the clone trick. It would've been so much more useful if he had known it when he had been twelve…

Maybe he should take Jiraiya's approach in teaching. Shiryoku as a student didn't match him as well as Shizune had matched Tsunade, for one. So he couldn't teach Shiryoku to be his copy, not that he would even if he could. So, instead, he'd do what Jiraiya had done with him, and teach her to better herself and use her own talents to the best of her ability, instead of trying to force her to master new talents.

How to do _that_, though, was a whole different thing.

Well, at least the dilemma had brought his thoughts away from Jiraiya and Nagato and the annoying spark of jealousy he couldn't stop himself from feeling.

x

Merry X-mas. I sadly have to inform you that I probably won't continue this any further. When I started writing this, I was under the impression that the events in Fain country happened during the Second Great Shinobi War and that Nagato and the others were older than Minato - when it seems it was, actually, somehow backwards, and the events actually took place near the end of the Third Great War? anyway, sort of lost ability to can around that revelation, so yeah. Happy Holidays.


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